


Snow Bound

by RavenDancer



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Gen, I post at ffnet as Maudlin Mush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-10
Updated: 2012-10-10
Packaged: 2017-11-16 01:40:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 29,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/534065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenDancer/pseuds/RavenDancer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The 5-0 team is off to a conference to 'connect' with other agencies.  Let the snow balls fly!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snow Bound

Snow Bound  
by Raven Dancer

aka Maudlin Mush

Chapter 1: Denver Bound 

They watched as the normally up-tight man twirled in a circle, snow falling softly all around them.

Fuckin’ cold snow! And the sidewalk was slippery as well.

But that didn’t stop the happiness being expressed in front of them. Swinging off his backpack, Danny stopped his deliriously happy dance and faced his friends. His incredibly under-dressed friends. He tugged the zipper on the pack and began to extract articles of clothing more suited to the winter clime.

First, Kono. A cheerfully bright scarf, a knitted hat and a pair of warm, lined gloves. Then Chin, who was resembling an ice cube, his teeth chattering. More subdued colors in the scarf and hat. Plus thicker gloves. Finally Steve. Dark blue! He’d thought Danny would try to deck him out in pink. Actually, he deserved it given how much grief he’d given his partner over the past month. But here he was, grinning like a kid on Christmas morning, pulling a cap over his friend’s head.

“Ya didn’t think I’d let any of you freeze, did you?” he said as he zipped his pack and moved to the curb. A car had been secured and the cousins elected Danny in charge of driving. He had experience driving in snow.

Of all crazy things to go to, the Governor decided to accept an invitation to a ‘Special Units’ conference. Her little task force had already gained attention from some of the larger units on the mainland and they were asked to sit on a panel debating the use of a state force separate from the police department.

Outside of Denver, Colorado. At the Evergreen Conference Center in the mountains west of the city. Jameson had gone so far as to renting the team a two-bedroom cottage at a nearby resort. She felt they could use the ‘bonding’ time.

Not that any of them complained about that. They actually didn’t mind the prospect of sharing the cottage. It was the snow and cold that three of them balked at.

“I also took the liberty of buying extra thermals for all of you,” Danny said brightly as he headed down the highway. “Gov. Jameson insisted I get some proper gear for you. Chin smiled. Leave it to Williams to quietly take care of their needs.

“I can’t believe you didn’t lord that over us!” Steve grouched as he tugged on the actually comfortable hat. Williams did not take his eyes off the road.

“None of you have ever lived for any extended period of time in a snow-bound area. It’s one thing for me to over heat in Hawaii, all I need to do is start takin’ off layers,” Danny said. “But when it’s cold and all you got is cargo pants and muscle shirts, no way you can get warm.”

“I hope you got me something warm,” Kono said as she rubbed her gloved hands over her upper arms and reached over the seat to turn up the heater.

“Oh, yeah,” Williams grinned.

“Mine better not be pink!” McGarrett growled.

“Would serve you right, Boss, if he did!” Chin tossed in. Steve turned and glared over his shoulder at the back seat.

“Naw,” Danny quickly assured. “Anyway, nothing pink in Ninja Seal size anyway!” A gentle roll of snickering filled the four-wheel drive. They settled down and gazed out the windows at the snowy landscape. Whereas McGarrett had been in snow a couple times, Chin and Kono had no experience in it.

“Wow!” Kono said as they started to climb the mountain. “Look at that!” she pointed out the high drifts of snow that had been plowed. Signs proclaiming ‘snow chains required’ loomed on the side of the highway. 

“We don’t have to worry about chains,” Danny said. “The jeep has snow tires on it as well as four-wheel drive. I’ll just keep it on the slow side for safety’s sake.”

“We have plenty of time to make it to the resort,” Chin agreed. “And the first ‘social’ is tonight.” Steve grunted.

“Whoopie, a meet and greet,” he muttered.

“Hey, it includes dinner,” Kono pointed out. “Won’t have to worry about eating.”

“Plastic chicken,” Steve stuck out his tongue.

“Talk about a negative attitude, McGarrett!” Danny chastised. “We’re here for the bonding and learning, not the food!”

“Bonding! Bonding!” Kono and Chin chanted in the back seat before bursting into laughter.

Steve wondered about the sanity in sending them to this conference. Their team was solid; they’d really come together after Danny had been beaten and his apartment destroyed just a couple months back. In fact, their Haole was just back to physical normal. Mental normal was not a concern as they were all a bit... bent. They’d even begun the search for a new place for their Haole.

But Jameson was adamant they’d learn something at the conference and they’d make the Hawaiian task force look good. That political punch would help her in the long run with federal monies for her state. She’d gone so far as to caution McGarrett to ‘play nice’ and follow William’s lead in meeting with other state special task forces.

After about an hour the jeep turned into a cluster of cabins and a large lodge. They left their things in the car and climbed the steps up to the main desk.

“May I help you?” a down-jacketed man asked as they stepped up to the desk.

“Uh, Steve McGarrett, Hawaii 5-0?” he said. The man pushed a few keys and looked up.

“Danny Williams?” he prompted. With a grumble Steve stepped back and let the 2IC move up.

“That’d be me!” he said with a smile. He pulled out the credit card given to him back in Oahu. The desk concierge accepted the card and started tapping various keys.

“Ah, yes, 5-O from Hawaii,” he smiled. “You are in the Alpine cottage! Very nice, two bedrooms and kitchen. I see that we cleaned and placed some clothing in your room earlier. And the fire is ready to be lit. Perfect!”

“Was the clothing washed first?” Danny asked as his team mates listened.

“Yes, Mr. Williams!” the concierge affirmed. “Washed, dried and marked as per request! We are very good at the details. We also laid out the wood for your fire and you’ll find plenty stacked by the front door.”

“Excellent!” Danny smiled as he filled out the lodging card. A map was placed before him as the concierge explained how to find not only their cottage but the place where they’d be going for the conference. Williams noted these things, accepted four keys, and signed off.

“Let’s go boys and girls!” he sing-songed as he turned and handed off keys. The contingent moved back to the jeep and drove the requisite distance to the cottage.

Even with the scarves and gloves it was COLD. At least the heater was on in the cottage and soon all the luggage was dragged in. Chin and Kono took one bedroom leaving Jersey and the Super Seal the other. Danny lit the fire before claiming his bed and stashing his clothing.

“Ok, let’s see what Santa left!” Kono said clapping her hands. On the sofa were stacks of winter clothing. She immediately gravitated towards the feminine pile and happily started looking at the long sleeved turtlenecks and pretty floral thermals.

“Cute! You done good, bro!” she bussed Danny on the cheek. “And I like the down jacket!” It was a light mossy rose with lots of pockets inside and out. Chin was happy to find less girly wear for himself. 

“So, how do you wear this stuff?” he asked as he checked out the flap on the thermals.

“Cuz! That is so wrong!” Kono complained. The men snickered.

“Thermals first,” Williams directed. “Then I’d put on an undershirt and flannel boxers.”

“Wouldn’t want certain things to get cold!” Chin teased flapping his hand through the placket again. Kono stuck out her tongue at him.

“Then a turtle neck. I like my flannel shirt over that,” he directed. “Double socks, I got you all a couple pairs of woolen ones for the top layer. You all brought boots?” He received affirmation.

“Well these little clamps will help you with traction in case it’s icy on the walk to and from the conference,” he held up strange looking straps with metal cleats. “Finally, your jackets. I had those labeled so we don’t loose ‘em.” Kono and Chin glanced at the tags inside the jacket, locating their names.

“RAMBO!?” Steve yelled. “You had mine labeled ‘Rambo!’?” This sent the entire team into gales of laughter as the man so labeled made to grab his 2IC in a strangle hold. Williams easily dodged him and stood behind the cousins for protection.

“I don’t know about you, but I could use some coffee,” Chin said. “Is there stuff in the kitchen to eat?”

“Jameson said it would be stocked appropriately,” Danny shrugged. 

“Well, let’s find out!” Kono headed off to check it out. It turned out to be well-stocked, even beer in the fridge. Steve located the coffee and filter and got the pot going.

“Oooh, cookies!” Kono pulled out a container with treats from a local bakery.

“I was a bit leery of this whole trip,” Steve admitted, “but Jameson is class.”

“She really wants us to put on a good show for her,” Danny said. “So that means she’s keeping us happy.” He pulled out a bottle of brandy.

“Way happy!” Kono grinned.

“Now, we have to be sober when we go over to the meet and greet,” Chin pointed out and glanced at his watch. “We have less than two hours!”

“So half a shot in the coffee,” Kono said reasonably. “It helps warm you up!”

The foursome sat down at the kitchen table and began their planning session. They were going to do their state proud. 

 

***************

Chapter 2: The Little Hawaiian Team

An hour and a half later properly garbed the Hawaiian contingent walked the short distance to the conference center. They stopped once for a lesson on properly packing snow balls and soon white projectiles were flying as the laughing group had fun. They entered the conference room brushing snow off each other.

“You got snow in my ear!” Steve complained as he took off his cap and shook it. 

“Serves you right!” Kono replied. “You were cheating!”

“How can you cheat at throwing snowballs?” he asked, incredulous. 

Leaning over Danny showed Chin how to disengage the cleats from his boots and slip them into a jacket pocket. Hats were removed as well as scarves. They hung these with coats on a rack in the entry.

There were perhaps a dozen people already in the room. From the looks of it pretty serious about something. Almost as one they turned to stare at the newcomers.

“I feel like my fly is down,” Chin muttered to his cousin. She shrugged and put on a smile. 

“Steve McGarrett, 5-0,” the dark haired man held out his hand as they neared the cluster, his team behind him. A rather dour looking man moved forward to accept the greetings.

“Jason Farr, Governor’s Task Force, New York,” he said with authority. He efficiently introduced his team, all 10 of them. All male with testosterone to match. 

Steve confidently introduced his team, not liking the way they were being sized up. Although Steve looked the part, the other three seemingly did not meet criteria and were subsequently ignored. 

McGarrett also did not appreciate the way he was pulled into the conversation but his people were left out. He noted Danny’s seeming indifference as he navigated to the bar and got drinks for them. He accepted the bottle of beer and turned to follow the conversation.

The Los Angeles and Chicago groups arrived next. None of them had any qualms about the Hawaiian team and soon they were engaged. Kono was pleased to see women on both teams. These also were larger teams, with ten and fifteen people. Of course, they’d all been established well before Hawaii and had grown over time.

A smaller contingent came in from Austin, then a group from Miami and finally New Orleans. Add to that various guest speakers from various governmental agencies and you had the bulk of the conference.

“Dan Williams!” a deep voice called out. “You old dog! Who let you in here?” A strongly-built man with greying hair came up to him and grabbed him in a bear hug. This brought the rest of the team back to him and they loosely arranged themselves in case of need.

Fortunately, Danny was grinning ear to ear. 

“Jim Hadley! They let you in here?” Williams returned the greetings.

“Yep, made me the keynote speaker of all things,” the older man chuckled as he loosened his hold. “They seem to think I’m expert on something related to law enforcement.”

“Let me introduce you to my team mates,” Williams smiled, waving them closer. Before he could begin the New York head, Farr, simply shouldered Danny out of the way.

“Colonel Hadley, sir!” he said and held out his hand.

“Detective Farr,” Hadley returned, clearly not impressed.

“I’d like to introduce my crew to you!” Farr tried to pull the speaker towards his expectant team. They were still clustered together and had not mingled like the rest of the teams had.

“I’ll be pleased to meet them,” Hadley gave him a tight smile. “But first I want to catch up with my old friend and his team mates.” He clearly enunciated ‘old friend’ and pulled his hand back.

“You have the week for that and I really think you’ll be impressed with my...” Farr again tried to pull the man towards his side of the room.

“I’m sure I will be, detective,” Hadley neatly skirted around him and laid his arm over Williams’ shoulders. “I will make it a point to do so sometime this week. Now, Dan, let’s meet the team!”

Farr was seething. How dare those upstarts corner Colonel Hadley! Even with McGarrett’s somewhat impressive presence they were weak. He glared at the shorter man’s back and felt himself being watched. Shifting slightly he realized McGarrett was glaring daggers at him, nearly daring him to do something. Turning abruptly, Farr turned and returned to his team.

“This is our leader, Lt. Cmdr. Steve McGarrett,” Danny began. “Chin Ho Kelly, our computer expert and kick-ass detective.” Hadley laughed at the description.

“And this must be Kono Kalakaua, probie and kick-ass detective in training,” Hadley finished up. He’d researched all the teams attending the conference and was quite impressed with the ‘little team’ from Hawaii. Everyone chuckled over his description.

“Well, we’re just tryin’ to raise her proper,” Chin grinned.

“From what I’ve read you’re all doing a fine job! We’ll have to sit down and discuss some of your successes and failures,” Hadley said.

“Sounds great,” Danny smiled.

“So, how do you know this Jersey transplant, sir?” Steve asked.

“Well, Dan, here, worked with me on a couple murder cases that involved drug traffickers and a serial murder case. Tried to get him to jump ship and join up with me,” Hadley explained. “Damn fine investigator and profiler.”

Profiler? This was news to them, although they knew that Danny was a great investigator. 

“How’s Gracie?” he turned to Williams who was definitely trying not to squirm under the praise.

“Great, loving Hawaii,” Danny said.

“Well, I think I’ve pretty well crushed Farr’s attempts to use me for political fodder,” Hadley grinned. “I need to go meet and greet, but let’s get together later this week! There’ll be down time and I want your opinions on a couple files.”

“Ah, I knew there was a catch!” Williams replied.

“But it comes with a bottle of the good stuff you like,” Hadley winked. 

“Really?” Danny was interested.

“Oh, yeah, 18 year old Laphroaig,” the greying man smirked.

“Cool!” With a chuckle Hadley turned around and moved on to meet other people.

After awhile the groups moved into the dining area. They found they’d been assigned a table near the front of the room. Hadley managed to switch his name card and quickly sat down next to Danny. He was avoiding sitting with Farr, but the New York lead simply switched his name card and sat down at the same table with his own 2IC.

Steve leaned over and whispered “Plastic chicken” to Kono causing her to giggle. Then, nudging Chin, they chanted softly “bonding! bonding!” causing their boss and 2IC to laugh as well. Hadley snorted.

“Inside joke?” he inquired. 

“Very,” Danny grinned. The New York duo shifted.

“You should let it out of the closet,” Farr drawled the innuendo. This elicited a polite chuckle from his own man, but blank stares from the rest of the table.

“Our Governor is very adamant about team building and bonding,” Steve said firmly. “In her estimation our team needs to work seamlessly together and she feels we work at our best when we are most comfortable in each other’s space. But that doesn’t include any closets, Detective Farr.”

“Our team does work seamlessly,” Farr ground out. “We’re professionals and don’t need to ‘build’ or ‘bond’ anything.”

“Different philosophies, same goal,” Danny shrugged. “From my perspective every team has its own way of working together. None of them are totally right or totally wrong.”

“Ah, you’re stealing part of my speech, Dan,” Hadley chimed in and patted him affectionately on the shoulder causing Farr to frown even more. “I took the time to review all the teams before I came. There are interesting similarities and a few differences that I’ll touch on. Plus, it helped us design the workshops and discussion groups as well.”

The first course was brought out, bowls of hot vegetable soup and crusty rolls. They hungrily dug in and conversation drifted to football and the impending football playoffs. The table occupants were amused at Kono’s knowledge of the teams involved and it was decided they’d open up a room and set up a screen to project the NY Jets/Indianapolis game later that week.

“Jets suck,” Farr commented as he pulled a long sip off his beer.

“And the Giants are playing when?” Danny shot back with a smirk. 

“Whatever,” Farr tipped his bottle and pushed his uneaten soup away. Salads followed then the main course was whisked out.

“Bu-wuk!” Steve said as the plates were set out. A thick cut of prime rib with baked potatoes and steamed veggies.

“You know, if you really want chicken I’m sure the waiter would be happy to get you some,” Kono pointed out and lifted her hand. Steve quickly pulled it back down.

“No, no, don’t want to cause any problems,” he said. “I’ll just have to suffer with this.” With a snort various accoutrements for the potatoes were passed around. Horse radish was checked for spiciness and chives were liberally doled out. 

When finished the staff cleared away the debris and brought out coffee and a rich chocolaty dessert. When Kono expressed her delight, Hadley passed his dish to her.

“I get to go talk now,” he shrugged. “And unlike Dan I have to work to keep this svelte figure!” He grinned as his name was announced and he moved up to the podium. 

“One thing about Jim,” Danny told his friends, “he’s a fine speaker. I never fall asleep when he talks.”

“Hey! What do ya mean by that!” Steve elbowed him in the side. Chin and Kono grinned then they all turned their attention to Hadley.

As far as speeches go McGarrett had to admit it was really good. Hadley had done his research and included examples of the best each team had to offer. If it seemed he used the Hawaiian team a few more times than the others no one commented, but Farr was grumbling under his breath each time they were cited.

Once over the last of the coffee was poured and a final call from the bar. Although it was early according to Hawaiian time, the team was tired because of the long travel day and drastic altitude change. Making their goodbyes they collected their gear, strapped on their cleats, and headed back to the cottage.

 

*******************

Chapter 3 Conferring

Having gone to bed early meant they were all up and ready to go early as well. There was a buffet breakfast served up by the lodgings and they were all eager to check it out.

As Steve poked through the offerings he was pleased to find his guilty pleasure: biscuits and gravy. Kono and Chin speared the sausage and waffles leaving Danny to scoop up oatmeal. He was delighted to find various things to mix in and liberally added dried fruit and nuts.

A full carafe of coffee was brought to their table along with orange and grapefruit juice. The team happily plowed through their meal. Then came the bundling up and walk through the brisk morning air.

“Damn! It’s fucking cold!” Kono complained. 

“I’m gonna loose body parts to frostbite before the week is out!” Steve muttered.

“Shut up! I’m trying to visualize being on the beach at Ala Moana!” Chin scolded. 

Danny gleefully fell back and packed a snowball, sending it flying it hit Steve’s back and splattered over Kono. They turned to glare at their Haole who’d already packed a second and nailed Chin.

“Oh, you’re so gonna die!” the older detective growled as he reached down to scoop up snow.

Which was why they were all laughing and chasing Danny along the path hurling snowballs back and forth. They didn’t care that they were being watched by several groups also making their way to the conference center.

“Geeze! What childish idiots!” the New York 2IC asserted to his leader. Farr was quick to agree.

“Yeah, team building my ass,” he said. “You wouldn’t catch any of my team doing such ridiculous stuff!” He heard the murmur of agreement from his team that was loosely surrounding him at the moment.

“I don’t know,” a new voice said. “I think it looks like a fine diversion on such a beautiful morning!” They turned to see Hadley walking down the path with a rather distinguished gentleman at his side. The keynote speaker grinned and scooped up a handful of snow, packed it expertly and when Williams flew by being pelted by his team mates threw it with great accuracy hitting McGarrett in the face.

“Lt Commander! Three to one?” he teasingly admonished. “Is that really fair?”

“No!” Steve cleared the snow from his face. “But seeing that no one else will help up it’s the best that we can do.” He turned to see his ‘nemesis’ zip into the building away from the snow. 

Once inside various observers were laughing as they helped shake snow off off hats, jackets and gloves of the combatants. It seemed that they had no problem with the antics of the Hawaiian team. Danny smugly grinned at them.

“Warm up?” he smirked. 

“Yep,” Chin said. “And devising a new stratagem for the trip back.”

“Oh, I am soooo afraid - NOT!” Williams laughed as he moved over to get a mug of hot coffee and cocoa mixed. He poured out a second mug for Kono who’d liked the blend the day before.

“Thanks Bro!” she sipped at her cup and smiled when Chin swiped Danny’s. Instead of complaining the Jersey transplant simply made two more and handed the one to Steve. 

“So, boys and girl,” McGarrett said in his best ‘I’m the boss’ voice, “let’s see what’s up for this morning!” They sauntered over to a table and picked up their agenda for the morning. It seemed that the Secretary of the Navy’s assistant, Commander Roland Phillips, was on hand to discuss coordination of federal agencies. With him were representatives from the FBI, CIA, NCIS and Coast Guard.

“Oh, joy,” Williams joked. “Alphabet soup day!” They shared a chuckle and then settled into their seats to await the fun.

The next three and a half hours meandered by, sometimes fast but mostly slow. They were the experts discussing coordination of activities with many examples of right and wrong ways to work together. Steve and Kono were bored within twenty minutes and it was only liberally applied elbows that kept them awake.

At the break Danny and Chin extracted paper from their notepads and whispering created bingo boards with key words from the first part of the morning. Given how competitive their ohana was, they felt a little game would keep them more focussed. 

Since they were near the back of the room, (let’s face it, as far away from the NY contingent as possible) they figured no one would notice their sport. Chin quickly outlined the rules and easily garnered smirking grins.

The second half of the morning went a lot smoother. Listening for key words made it much more interesting and they nearly had to gag Steve when he ‘won’ an hour in. At least there were quite a few curious looks and a few glares. When lunch break was finally announced Hadley made his way back to the group this time with a couple guest panelists.

“Dan, I think you remember Agent Fornell, FBI?” Jim asked as they came up to the table.

“Yes, Tobias, how are you doing?” Williams reached out to shake hands then make the introductions.

“And this is Agent Timothy McGee, NCIS,” Hadley continued. “I think that Chin might be interested in some of his computer ideas.” Again, the meet and greet included all in the small circle.

“Ok, Dan, give,” Fornell said. “What were you doing that caused that little outburst during my part of the presentation.” Before he could answer Steve held up his paper.

“You said ‘interagency’ and ‘cross-intelligence’ which filled in two spots and won me the game!” he said with a grin. Hadley took the paper and looked over the key words.

“Ah ha, playing on the job, eh?” he teased. McGee reached over and took Chin’s paper.

“Can I have this?” he asked. “I think it might help my friend Tony concentrate at some of those meetings we have.”

Farr, who’d been following the conversation butted in.

“Geeze, having a little problem concentrating, fellas?” he said sarcastically.

“Well, yes, as a matter of fact,” Kono said. “Chin and Danny are really great at these things. They take care of that part of our task force.”

“And as we said earlier about working seamlessly together,” Chin threw in, “knowing that this wasn’t Steve and Kono’s strong suit, we decided to liven it up for them.” He indicated the legal pads on the table that were well written on.

“Danny and I took notes on things that we felt would benefit our team,” he continued. “We’ll incorporate that and overall improve our work.”

“There have been many studies,” the Cmdr Phillips weighed in, “that shows some people need to be engaged in a secondary activity, whether it be sketching or doodling,” he flipped his legal pad open and showed fairly good pencil drawings of a few of the speakers, “or knitting or simple games.”

“I prefer tic-tac-toe,” one of the Los Angeles team said after a nudge from his team mate showing a page of little x’s and o’s. With a disgruntled shrug Farr suggested they move on to the lunch being served in the adjoining room. As they walked out Dan locked step with Hadley.

“Sorry about that, Jim,” he began but found himself being shushed.

“No, I’m sorry that Farr and his group are being such a chore,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with helping team mates with slogging through some of this boredom. Remember that one joint operation? A couple years after 9/11? Sitting in with those grandstanding congressmen?”

“Oh, god yes!” Williams replied. “I wanted to pull my fingernails out.”

“We were sketching and writing notes back and forth for three days,” Jim snorted. “I don’t think they said one original thing after the first hour.” They continued walking allowing Steve to forge ahead to find seating. 

The afternoon session went much better as they broke out into smaller groups and with one of the presenters as leader discussed ways they’d already used inter-agency cooperation in solving cases. The four team mates were put in different groups. Chin, to his great distaste, was in with Farr and another of his men. At least there were others from all over the country to bring the group to 10 people.

Danny was pleased to be in with Fornell. He recalled the no-nonsense FBI agent from a few years back. He had a lot of good examples of cross-agency cooperation and the teams represented in his group had plenty of input for good and bad operations.

Steve and Kono both managed to stay awake; with small group and hands on discussions they were quite involved. Kono, the one with the least experience, began to appreciate her team more. Having connections was extremely important and her three friends brought their own sets.

A little after three the groups broke up and they had a four hour break until dinner.

“One of the guys from Austin said there were hiking trails all over the place,” Kono said. “Maybe we can take a walk for an hour or so?”

“It gets pretty dark fast,” Steve pointed out.

“So, an hour? We can get a map at the desk,” she nearly begged. She needed desperately to stretch her legs and figured at least Steve would feel the same.

“Let’s check,” Danny suggested and they moved quickly back to their lodging’s front desk. The same down-vested man was on call and was happy to provide them a map with details for a short, 20 minute hike that would take them to a frozen water fall. A quick phone call later he provided them with a small back pack with supplies. Chin grabbed his camera and they set out.

“What’s in the pack?” Steve questioned.

“Couple thermoses of hot chocolate,” Williams grinned. “We can sip some at the falls before we head back.”

“That’s aurite!” Kono said as she took the map and started for the trail. They didn’t notice one of Farr’s team questioning the concierge about their departure nor the subsequent stockpiling of snow balls.

“If it’s good team building to play like kids,” Farr reasoned, “then we’ll join in.”

Fornell and McGee, seeing that they knew each other, settled in the lounge overlooking the forest. They watched the Hawaiian team setting off at a brisk pace. Then they watched the entire NY team piling up snowballs.

“You know, I’m thinking there’s going to be an ambush,” Fornell cocked his head. Turning, he spotted Hadley at the bar with the SecNav officer.

“Hey, Jim!” he called and waved his drink. The two men joined them.

“Looks like someone’s planning a war,” he said, pointed out the activity.

“Your friend, Dan, and his group just headed off for a walk that way,” McGee said.

“Huh, we’ll just have to play neutral observers, eh?” he settled down and watched the arsenal being piled up.

****************

Kono and Chin were thrilled with the snow and ice and the deep quiet of the forest. No raucous birds or animals crashing through the undergrowth. When they got to the falls it was magic.

“Whoa! It’s all frozen!” Chin said as he started taking pictures. While they were enjoying the view Williams pulled out thermoses and cups and poured out the steaming treat. 

“Ok, I take it back,” Steve said as he sat on a dry patch of thick pine needles surrounded by his ohana. “Jameson had a great idea sending us here!”

“Yeah, and the conference isn’t bad, either!” Kono teased, causing them to laugh. “At least, I learned some thing in the afternoon session.”

“I did, too,” Williams said. “And it’s been great to see Jim and Tobias again. They are both good people to work with.”

“That’s one of the reasons we’re here I bet,” Chin said thoughtfully. “You have a few connections that will benefit her and Hawaii.”

“I suppose,” Danny said. “As long as we stay the hell away from that NY group.”

“What a bunch of stuck-up, testosterone-laden, lolos!” Kono growled.

“Hey, you work with at least one testosterone-laden lolo,” Steve grouched playfully. He checked his watch.

“We’d better head back,” he determined. “It’s getting dark and we don’t want to get lost.”

“Us? Lost?” Chin dead-panned. “But we got a Super Navy Seal to guide us!” More laughter and they policed their trash putting it all into the backpack that went on Danny’s shoulders.

They hastened back down the path. It actually was well maintained and easy to walk. They decided they’d explore a longer path in a couple days when they had a morning break. They’d just made it to the edge of the conference center when Steve stopped.

“Do you hear anything?” he asked. They all listened.

“Just some people talking,” Chin determined. “It is a conference center, after all, and there is a conference going on.”

Tobias sat up as he watched the Hawaiian contingent walk into the ‘trap’ and being pelted by ten assailants with multiple snow balls. Quickly, the foursome assessed the situation and began packing and throwing back.

“You know, this morning it was a fun little romp,” Hadley pointed out. “But this is a bit more... aggressive.”

“Maybe we should help even out the sides?” McGee suggested as he set down his drink.

“Yes, we should,” Fornell agreed and the four men, with a couple reinforcements from the Chicago team that’d joined them, went out the side door to join in.

Suddenly caught in a crossfire, the NY team’s strategy was tossed aside and it was every man for himself. Steve managed of grab ahold of Farr.

“Ok, put down the snowballs or Farr’s gonna get it!” he teased, holding a large glove of snow near the man’s collar. As they started to toss their “weapons” aside the 2IC saw his opening. The suck-up, Williams, was standing completely defenseless away from his team. 

“DOG PILE!” he yelled, grabbing a cohort. They barreled down the helpless man nearly crushing him in their haste. Another New Yorker threw himself on top for good measure.

Which sent the Hawaiian contingent running to their Haole.

“This is not good,” Hadley grumbled as he pushed himself forward. “According to my reports he’s just gotten over some serious physical injuries.” Phillips hurried back into the lounge to get some help while the others went to pull apart the brawl threatening to explode.

McGarrett had no interest in fighting. They were at a conference! It was suppose to be a good, relaxing experience. Now he pulled one man off his 2IC while Kono and Chin pried the other two back. At first the men were not interested in stopping their ‘fun’ and tried to shove the two cousins aside.

Bad move.

With a few elegant moves all three men were down and when reinforcements approached they were treated similarly. It was only when Hadley and Farr ordered nearly simultaneously to stand down did the one-sided assault cease.

“How bad?” Fornell asked as he dropped to Williams’ side. Steve pulled a bloody hand away from the back of his friend’s head.

“Probable concussion, need stitches, I think,” he said as he started checking out other possible problems. “And he landed on top of two metal thermoses, so there’s a possibility of contusions there.”

Hearing the problems, McGee turned to find additional help and was met at the lounge door by a Navy doctor who’d come up with Phillips. 

“Mmmh,” Williams started to come around. “Get the license for that truck?”

“Danno? Don’t try to move!” Steve cautioned but the man batted hands away and pushed up to sitting.

“I’m fine,” he muttered, “and quit calling me Danno!”

“You are NOT fine, Dan,” Tobias said as he braced the swaying man. “You have a cut on the back of your head and those thermoses probably did a number on your back.”

“Oh, that’s why it’s spinning and it hurts when I breath,” Danny admitted as he leaned against the FBI agent. “I just need some tylenol and maybe an ice pack.” Steve rolled his eyes.

“And a dozen stitches and maybe tape up those ribs?” he growled.

“I just got off the damned rib brace!” Williams whined. Another set of hands suddenly appeared causing him to flinch in pain.

“And you’ll get a new one soon,” the Navy doctor, Peterson, determined as he pressed against bruised back ribs. “Nothing broken. Let me check your pupils.” Weakly protesting, Steve latched onto his friends hands and waited as light was shined into his eyes.

“Looks good there,” Peterson determined. “We’ll get you back to your cottage and I’ll do a little needlework.” He received a sour look for his troubles.

“Thanks, Doc,” Steve said sincerely. “We’ll get him back. Do you need help with your equipment?”

“No, I think I have a couple volunteers,” he replied, seeing both Fornell and McGee agree.

Bitching about the unfairness of it all Danny was carefully helped to his feet. Chin and Steve held on until they decided he wasn’t going to walk on his own and simply picked up the squawking man. Kono followed with the back pack and Danny’s knit hat.

“Doctor Peterson,” Farr came forward. “Some of my men need to be checked over first.” He backed off when both Hadley and Cmdr Phillips joined the discussion.

“You can drive your men down to the ER and have them checked out,” Hadley said. “Then I need a detailed report on this... operation and what the goals were. Do you understand, Jason?”

“Completely, sir,” Farr replied kissing goodbye any positive outcomes from the conference.

Damned Hawaiian team!

****************

Chapter 4: Retreat

Once back in the cottage jackets were removed. Steve and Chin wasted no time in stripping off Danny’s top layer, flannel shirt and shoes. He was seated at the table and ‘encouraged’ to lean forward slightly while a cold, wet, compress was placed over the laceration. 

“Man, quit making like Florence Nightingale already!” he groused as Kono used a warm damp cloth to clean his face. They all noted he actually lifted his head so she had easy access. A knock at the door heralded the arrival of Dr. Peterson and his personal entourage.

“I’ll need to get to your back, Det. Williams,” he directed. Growling he tried batting away his team mates helpful hands but was thwarted as Chin was able to latch onto the hems of his three shirts.

“Son of a bitch!” he grated out. “At least watch the head Chin!”

“Sor-ry,” came the unrepentant apology. Glancing down they could see the bruising already forming. It didn’t seem fair; he’d just finally lost all the yellow/brown from the previous round of hurt.

“Here, use this while Doc stitches you up,” McGee offered a soft blanket which was quickly draped and wrapped around the sore body. Pillowing his face on his forearms, Danny exposed the cut on the back of his head. Peterson carefully palpitated the site before reaching for his lidocaine and syringe.

“You’re going to feel a couple of sticks,” he murmured as he began preparing the area. “I don’t need to cut your hair, but it needs cleaning.” 

“Why don’t you be the hostess with the most-test, Ninja Seal, and offer the viewing audience some refreshments,” Danny sneered out.

“Wow, I remember now - you have such a charming personality!” Fornell laughed.

“That’s what endears him to us,” Chin grinned. “Beer, wine, brandy?”

“We can make some coffee,” Kono suggested. 

“I’d like some brandy,” the good doctor said as he began aggressively cleaning the wound and pushing hair out of the way.

“Same,” Commander Phillips called from the doorway. Hadley was right behind and asked for a beer. Since Steve was not leaving his partner’s side, preferring to help brace him just in case, the cousins picked up the duty and were soon passing out drinks. 

“I hope I’m being entertaining enough,” Danny muttered as he felt the slight tug of the needle bringing the skin flap together.

“I think you could liven it up with a song,” Steve suggested and received his very own ‘fuck you’. 

“Let’s move it into the front room,” Hadley suggested. “Looks like housekeeping has laid out a new fire.” That left the doctor and Steve alone with Williams which was just fine by Danny.

Chin found himself in a corner with the NCIS agent who was very curious about his set up in Hawaii. They happily nattered on about all the wonderful interactive equipment at their disposal. Kono found listening to the three older men quite interesting. Hadley was skillful enough to bring her into the conversation as they discussed various ongoing cases.

Twenty minutes later with a new rib brace and his dignity restored (thermals and flannel shirt) Steve assisted a slightly shaky partner into the front room and gently eased in a chair near the fire. The blanket was shaken out over his lap and the doctor handed over a cold beer.

Although Chin and McGee kept their geekness in the corner, the rest of them continued to discuss the conference and the next few days offerings. Drinks were replenished and some munchies pulled out. Even with the ‘brass’ there it was still a comfortable group.

“Well, I have to head on back,” Hadley said looking at his watch. “Need to square away a few things for tomorrow and then on to dinner.”

“I need to go as well,” Cmdr Phillips said. “I’m returning to DC tonight. Doctor?” Peterson nodded and took his snifter into the kitchen.

“I’m leaving some codeine for tonight, Det. Williams,” he said. “As well as enough for a few days. Tylenol should suffice for the most part, but I think you’ll need a little extra for sleeping. Stay out of snowball fights for awhile.” Danny rolled his eyes but still held out his hand and thank the doctor for his work.

Fornell elected to return with Hadley but McGee decided to stay. He enjoyed the easy camaraderie of the Hawaiian team. As the room cleared Kono went to Danny and fussed a minute with covers. She leaned him forward slipping a pillow behind his back while Steve tucked an ottoman under his legs.

“I think I’ll hang out here,” Williams said as he wriggled into the comfort provided him.

“It’s ok, Danno, we’ve got food for dinner,” Steve decided. “I think we’ve had enough ‘conferencing’ for the time being.”

“You’re welcome to stay, Tim,” Chin gave his easy-going grin and was readily accepted.

“I don’t get out too often for these things,” McGee admitted. “Although I usually have some of my team with me. It’s a little strange just hanging out with Agent Fornell.”

“Eh, Tobias can be a tough read,” Danny said from behind drooping eyelids. “His mind is always going. Just when you think you’ve got him figured out he surprises you.”

“I would love for you to meet my boss,” the NCIS agent said. “If you think Fornell is a tough read, you should meet Gibbs!”

“Leroy Jethro Gibbs?” one eye slipped open as Danny fought sleep. “Haven’t had the pleasure but Tobias thinks he’s damn good.” The fight was lost as both eyes closed and breathing gentled out.

“I wished I could’ve gotten a direct shot on Farr,” Chin growled. 

“What’s his deal, anyway?” Kono asked. “It’s like he’s gunning for Danny.”

“Farr thinks his team is the best one out there,” McGee said with a shrug. “We bumped heads with him once. He’s pretty dismissive of other teams.”

“I’m sure Farr is less than happy that an uppity Jerseyite and the little team from Hawaii seeming to be showing him up,” Steve pointed out. “Danno also seems to be on good terms with Hadley which is something Farr is not.”

“There is that,” Kono said. “Colonel Hadley was very interested in our successes. So was Phillips. I guess they’ve been tracking a few of the Governor Task Forces throughout the country and that’s why we were tapped for this conference.”

“I’m certainly learning a lot!” Chin said as he started for the kitchen. “Making some good contacts as well.” He stopped to bump fists with McGee before they both disappeared into the kitchen and began rustling around in the cupboards.

Steve and Kono watched Danny slip further into sleep.

“It’s so unfair,” she said. “We just got him well and this happens.”

“At least it’s an easy week,” McGarrett said. He glanced over at Kono.

“Uh, is Chin checking out dinner possibilities?” he asked.

“Yups,” Kono replied. “We should get in there before he can start anything.”

“Yeah, I don’t recall any frozen pre-cooked chicken!” the Navy seal replied as they headed into the kitchen. 

Fortunately there was some ground beef, dry spaghetti and bottles of sauce. Basic spices were in the cupboard and when McGee admitted he knew how to boil water he was elected chef for the night with the other three helping with prep and clean up.

As the sauce was simmering away there was a knock on the door. A waiter from the conference came to check on them, compliments of Commander Phillips. Once ascertaining their needs he left promising salad, bread and dessert.

“Danny,” Steve tugged at the blanket. “Dan-ny!” Another tug. “Danno! Dinner!” An eye slipped open.

“Quit calling me ‘Danno’,” he grumbled. “And what are you gonna poison me with tonight?”

“Tim cooked some spaghetti and the Commander sent the rest of the meal over from the conference,” he explained. “Now all you have to do is get cleaned up and we’ll feed you.”

Williams contemplated moving and eating. He was sort of hungry and if he didn’t have to do any of the work then he might just be up for that. Tossing the cover aside he reached out for a helping hand.

Steve shepherded him into the bathroom and then out into the kitchen carefully tucked in at the table. A glass of red wine was set before him as well as a salad. Crusty bread was within reach and butter. 

“Smells good, Tim,” he finally commented as he sniffed the air.

“Thanks. I was elected to cook when they found out about my water boiling skills,” he said.

“That’s at least one up on McGarrett and Kelly,” he said as he speared some lettuce on his fork. “Hey, Kalakaua, can you boil water?” A piece of bread flew threw the air and hit him on the shoulder.

“Guess that’s a no,” Danny muttered as he picked up the bread and used it to push his salad onto his fork. 

Dinner was fun and as comfortable as being with his own team, McGee decided as he helped ladle the meaty sauce over pasta. Plenty to eat and plenty to talk about. Afterwards he was left at the table to entertain Danny while the other three cleaned up. A deck of cards was produced and he was quickly taught how to play Spades.

As he returned to his room later that night he was a little surprised when Kono and Chin walked him over. He said he wanted to stretch his legs; she said she had to get away from McGarrett’s mouth. McGee realized they were making sure he made it back safely. 

It was a comforting feeling.

****************

Morning started with a groan from the Haole’s bed. Damn it all, he was sore all over from the ‘friendly’ ambush yesterday. Pushing himself up he began shedding clothing and brace as he walked into the bathroom.

“Uhm, Danny?” Kono said standing in front of the mirror. He just gave her a small wave as he stepped into the shower, flinging his boxers over the top. He needed hot water NOW. Since he didn’t seem to be put off by her there she finished brushing teeth and hair and dabbing on a little makeup. 

“You seen Danno?” Steve asked as he looked into the bathroom.

“Shower,” she said with a shrug.

“Man, he must be way out of it,” he replied as he pulled out a large bath sheet and tucked it on the bar by the stall.

“I’ll get the coffee going,” she said as she finished up. Steve took over the sink and shaved. As he pulled the blade over his cheek a hand came out of the shower and snagged the towel. After a moment his partner appeared, somewhat refreshed, finger combing his hair.

“Hey princess, getting all dolled up?” Danny asked as Steve raised an eyebrow. He waved a hand over Kono’s makeup.

“Naw, Kono was here before me,” he said with a grin. Danny thought on that a moment.

“Oh, that’s why you seemed so short earlier,” he said as he turned to go back into his room to dress.

Once everyone was assembled they rinsed coffee mugs and headed out to breakfast. It was still cold, but they were enjoying the quiet. Chin carefully guarded the path for his injured friend.

One thing about being hurt so badly months before was that the surly Haole learned to accept help and comfort from his team mates. As Danny came to trust them Steve felt more comfortable and derived a feeling of family as well. Kono and Chin certainly loved being in this ohana. Their own had been very unsupportive and outright nasty.

Breakfast was tasty. They tried different foods and watched the rest of the world wake up. The Chicago group was lodging at their hotel and soon they had more people clustering around their table eating and chattering. 

“Missed you guys at dinner last night,” one woman said as she poured out coffee for herself and a team mate.

“We were a little conferenced-out,” Chin said, always the diplomat.

“I was just glad Williams wasn’t hurt too bad,” another man commented. “I mean, snow balls are one thing but three big gorillas piling on anyone is a little ridiculous.” There was a murmur of agreement.

“Eh, I’m fine, just a little stiff,” Danny tried waving it off.

“Yeah, a dozen stitches and a brace is ‘a little stiff’,” Steve muttered to no one in specific.

“Hey, I got a hot dinner prepared by McGee and my team’s tender loving care!” Danny shot back with a grin. “Totally worth it!”

“NOT!” Chin, Kono and Steve groused. Williams smiled as he sipped at his coffee, the Chicago crew snickering.

They continued to banter back and forth as they ate then bundled up for the trudge. It was snowing and the light flakes were drifting down to the ground. Chin and Kono tried catching them, it was a little like chasing butterflies but with more success. 

Steve hung back with Danny making sure he was able to make the trip. He was pleased to see his counter-part from Chicago matched their stride on the injured man’s other side. 

“If it snows enough we’ll make snow cream,” Danny said. “Gracie loves to make that.”

“I’m sure the host can provide you with vanilla, sugar and milk,” David said companionably. 

“Snow cream?” Steve asked.

“Think ice cream, but wilder,” David said as they came up to the conference center door. Danny allowed them to take his outer gear and hang it up. Cleats were put into pockets and they entered the main room for the day’s assignment.

It was interesting to see some of the other teams come by the table to check up on the Hawaiian team. The news about the snow ball fight had spread like any good gossip would and most of them weren’t too happy with the aggressive dog pile. 

Plus they were interested in sizing up the kick-ass back up. They seemed normal enough but the story of them taking out six men between the two of them built a reputation!

Hadley entered with his small entourage of presenters. He stopped by to check on Danny and then move around the room to shake hands and collect coffee. McGee slid into a seat by Chin and greeted them.

“Sleep well?” he asked.

“Good, good,” Williams said.

“Only one nightmare,” Steve tattled and received the stink eye from his partner.

“Eh, happens to me, too,” Tim admitted. “I feel stupid sometimes but I do like having someone around to wake me up!”

“Yeah,” Danny grudgingly agreed. “Although princess here could be a little more subtle.”

The Hawaiians snickered recalling how their boss held Williams so he couldn’t bolt out of the room. 

“At least we didn’t have to tackle you,” McGarrett helpfully pointed out. He received a grunt in return. Then Hadley called to them for their attention and day three was underway.

***************

 

Chapter 5 The Next Task

The day was a series of focus groups. Danny was in a smaller group with Hadley discussing and profiling various old cases. Chin found himself with computer literate people going over the various tools of their trade. Kono and Steve were pleased to be in a martial arts group and discussion group on various legal ways to capture felon and other wanted persons.

Steve could always use the refresher, especially if it didn’t include Danny screaming at him!

Hadley had hand picked six of the best profilers in the country, one from each team, to share their expertise on a couple of cases. The first case had been solved but he wanted to see how these men worked and if they could reach the same conclusions as the original caseworkers.

He had not been pleased when Farr turned up instead of the man he’d initially tapped. 

“Det. Farr, where is agent Benjamin?” he asked carefully.

“I felt Benjamin would do much better reviewing his martial arts skills,” he said. “I generally do the profiling for my team.”

“I would prefer you let us determine the participants for future groupings,” Hadley stated firmly. “There are reasons for our choices.”

Farr simply smiled and sat down next to Williams. This was not what the planners had envisioned, but it seemed the NY group and leader were going to continue to be abrasive.

A set of files were passed out to be reviewed.

“This is an old case from early in my career,” he detailed. “A series of murders in the Atlanta area dealing with prostitutes and homeless people. Eight were female, two males.” He encouraged them to read through the files and look over the various bits of evidence that had been found in order of the deaths. 

The men slowly worked through the file, papers spread out as they looked over photos and evidence. There was no DNA to use, but plenty of other evidence from foot prints to partial fingerprints and various eye witness reports.

Hadley gauged they were half-way through the information when Farr spoke up and determined that one of the suspects was the killer. He pointed out all the eyewitness accounts and the partial matched finger prints at two of the crime scenes.

“But his prints haven’t been found on six of the subsequent cases,” Williams pointed out. “And he doesn’t fit the profile, he didn’t have any problems with his parents or girlfriend.”

“Ah, but he served in Nam,” Farr said firmly. “We know that returning service men have a lot of trouble reacclimatizing to normal society.”

“The psych reports said he continued to have fairly normal relationships with both mother and girlfriend when he came back, that he became homeless because he couldn’t stand being inside houses. He basically flew into panic attacks.”

“And then he went out and murdered people that tried to close him in,” Farr stated with authority. Danny shrugged.

“You have your opinion,” Williams said. “I want to look over more of the records. This guy, the one from LA that got caught up in running drugs looks more interesting.” Before Farr could rebut, Hadley suggested they all continue going through the evidence.

“Seems a little superfluous,” Farr grumbled, but settled down when no one seemed incline to side with him. Of course, no one sided with Williams, but he ignored that.

After going through the file several of the team began writing notes. The Chicago team mate, David, leaned over to review William’s notes. He nodded in silent agreement and wrote a few more ideas on his page.

Terry, the Austin representative, started the conversation about the similarities of all the deceased and the Miami profiler added in that certain evidence overlapped, but was not necessarily at every murder scene.

Farr tried pushing the Nam vet again, although David and John argued against it because there was not enough evidence to link him.

Which left Danny the opening to present his ideas. He started linking the LA man with each victim, then with several other suspects. In his estimation the drug dealer had orchestrated all the murders but in three cases coerced other suspects to contaminate the crime scenes.

The round table continued to argue each point, especially Farr who wouldn’t accept anything Williams would say. Hadley stepped back and watched the Hawaiian calmly express his views and in the end convinced everyone sans Farr that the LA suspect was, in fact, the serial killer.

“Would you tell this fool he’s all wrong?” Farr finally turned to Hadley. The group leader pulled out another set of files and passed them around. This set was the confirmation that the Nam vet was not the killer. It gave more pieces of evidence and sent the table back to reviewing the information.

“Whoa! This completely eliminates the drug runner from the crimes!” David said as he went through the documentation.

“I told you it wasn’t him!” Farr snapped. But Danny just lined up the new information, from two new sources. He checked through the other suspect lists and other witnesses and pointed out the irregularities in testimony. Then he proceeded to convince the entire group once again it was the drug runner from LA that’d done the murders.

“You’re like a terrier that won’t let loose of a bone!” Farr exclaimed. “You just won’t admit you’re wrong!”

“I’d admit it if it were true,” Danny said as he tossed the new file aside. “But the fact of the matter these two new informants were lying through their teeth. Plus, they are admitted clients of the murderer. Look.” And once more he laid out the case piece by piece.

“If you look at the victims from his perspective,” Williams said, his eyes becoming more intent, you see the similarities between them and his sister.”

“But he loved his sister!” Farr jumped in immediately. “He took her in and protected her!”

“Yes, and she was a drug addict,” the Haole continued. “He basically gave her whatever she needed to keep her from prostituting for drug money.”

“So you’re saying he secretly hated his sister and killing these people that resembled her in certain ways kept him from killing her?” Farr snorted.

“I’m saying he loved his sister but hated what she’d become,” Danny said. “He was killing the things he hated the most about her situation. He couldn’t help her, although he tried. And he had a pretty crappy upbringing which didn’t help.” 

Farr pushed back his chair and folded his arms, classic defensive posturing. He again asserted Williams was completely off base and glared at Hadley daring him to agree with him. Hadley, stone-faced, tossed out the final folder which detailed the results.

Danny had been spot on. The findings and subsequent interview and psych evaluation corroborated his analysis. Farr was silently fuming; not good for team work! Hadley had a cold case he wanted the group to go over, but the tension was thick so he decided to call a break for lunch a few minutes early.

As Farr stomped off Terry and David cornered Danny and they went off to the lounge to discuss profiling techniques. Hadley was just as pleased with the younger officer’s abilities and again wished he could coerce him into joining his own team. A foolish hope. Williams was quite happy with his new team and his daughter was close to hand.

**********

Lunch was enjoyable. Steve and Kono got to show off new bruises and detail the ones they gave to others. Chin quizzed them on their newly refreshed Miranda warnings and Danny razzed them about legal ways to confiscate evidence. Their table had grown to include several other members of the Chicago and Austin team and McGee.

When they pressed their Haole he was not very forthcoming with describing his morning. Although he did suggest he may have bested Farr. 

“Kicked his ass,” David whispered to the grinning table and bumped fists with Williams.

“He was not a happy team leader,” Terry snickered. Danny rolled his eyes before a very self-satisfied smile graced his face. Steve patted his back.

“That’s my Haole!” he smirked. Which lead to the discussion of what ‘haole’ meant, skirting the very personal issues that had arisen back in Hawaii. Several other words were passed around much to the amusement of the table. 

When Hadley returned he was accompanied by two new people. McGee perked up immediately and waved at them.

“We came to rescue you from Fornell,” the suave-looking male of the duo smiled.

“Yes, Tony said he was probably torturing you,” the dark-haired woman commented. 

“Hi guys! Come meet my new friends!” Tim was smiling broadly as he dragged a chair to the full table. Chin grabbed another. Curious, the two NCIS agents settled in. Probie wasn’t known to warm up to strangers that quickly; it seemed he was well settled with an Asian man at his side.

A lunch buffet was set up and the last few trays were being placed in chaffing trays as introductions were made. 

“Yes, Gibbs felt we were getting, ah, underfeet, and made us come out to this conference,” Ziva David said.

“Underfoot,” Tim and Tony Dinozza immediately supplied.

“Ah, singular,” she said, “but there are two of us, Tony. Shouldn’t it be ‘feet’?” she asked in all innocence.

“English idioms make no sense,” Danny said helpfully, “and follow no rules. Not that English is consistent to begin with.”

“I have noticed that!” she said with a coy smile. “It is difficult, especially with Tony helping me!”

“I keep tellin’ you, Ziv, just ask me,” Tim said. “Wait, did he get you while I was gone yesterday?” A roll of eyes and a glare at the Tony confirmed it. Danny laughed.

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” he said. “These Hawaiians have a whole language no sane person can follow.”

“Sane? Awue, land trotter, try! Mento always in pilikia!” Steve snorted. Everyone stared, most in disbelieve, two others quelling their laughter.

“See?” Danny’s vocal hands spread out in movement. “I have ta deal with this bunch of lolos!” Which sent the rest of the table into laughter.

“You have it much worse than I do,” Ziva chuckled.

“Hey, lunch!” Terry said. “Better get in line before the good stuff is gone!” As plates were loaded Tony and Ziva noted that the Hawaiian team was efficiently helping their team mate, steadying his plate as food was dished up. In fact, the team leader carried his partner’s plate back to the table as he herded the man in front of him. Once settled, the woman set out a large glass of water and coffee for him. That done, they went back for their own food.

The next interesting development was McGee and two other agents moved some tables and chairs into a new configuration so everyone could sit together. Their Probie really did feel comfortable! 

After lunch they returned to their workshops. Ziva joined the martial arts/procedures group while Tony followed Hadley and Fornell into the profiling meeting.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Agent Benjamin showed up and Farr did not. 

“This afternoon you’ll be looking over a cold case from the FBI,” Hadley began as he pulled out files. “It’s not a competition even if it seemed like it this morning.”

“There have been a series of murders,” Fornell began detailing everything that had been discovered. Pens flew over pads of papers as pertinent details were described. Then evidence was weighed through as well as interviews. 

Tony noted that David and Terry had flanked Dan as more and more information was digested. The Hawaiian 2IC had become more and more terse, eyes darkened as he touched the various pieces of evidence, sorting them into groups. Glancing over towards the group leaders he noted how hard both Fornell and Hadley were concentrating on the younger man.

“Not his knife,” Williams remarked as he pushed a wicked looking blade away from him.

“Why?” Hadley asked.

“Not what he’d like,” he said. “Not the right feel.” 

“And these?” several more implements were casually piled in front of the profiler. Danny shifted through the new pile and plucked up a sharp stiletto, eying it carefully as he balanced it in his hand.

“Oh, yes, this is the one,” he said. “He was very upset to lose this knife.” The entire table noted the shift in personality. It was a little frightening to see normally bright blue eyes darken and the hunched over countenance being affected. Hadley motioned with his head and the Chicago profiler carefully moved allowing Fornell to slip into his place.

For the next hour the group watched in fascination as the FBI agent cross-examined Williams. The profiler was deep in his element, fingers trailing over pieces of evidence and pictures of crime scenes. Fornell’s pen was flying over his pad. He hoped that the others were writing as well since he couldn’t keep up with the information flowing out from the younger man.

Finally the interview was ending. Danny had mostly stopped talking but his hands were softly running over the stiletto in a sensuous dance. Hadley rose and put a hand on Fornell’s shoulder and the two men switched.

“Dan?” he said gently. “Dan, you’re done now. You’ve done a great job but I need you to put it away.” He carefully reached out for the knife and covered the slowly moving hands. 

“You’re going to take it away again?” Williams asked in a low, slightly dangerous, voice.

“It’s not yours, Dan,” Hadley wheedled. “It’s not you, look at me, Dan.”

Muddled blue eyes slowly looked up at the older man. There was some confusion but it dissipated as Hadley continued to talk in a soft voice. With a shake of head and a full-body shiver Dan Williams was back.

“Thanks,” he said. “I hate being there.”

“I know, but you gave Fornell some great information,” Hadley put a hand under his elbow and helped him stand. “I think you’ve earned some fortified coffee.” The two men left the room and the rest of the group turned to the FBI agent.

“Geeze, Tobias,” Tony said, “what just happened?”

“When you profile you’re trying to get into the perp’s head. What’s he thinking? Why does he do what he does? What will he do next?” Fornell explained. “Some profilers, like Williams, can almost become the perp. They loose their own identity and take on the other’s.”

“Wow!” Terry said. “That’s scary.”

“Indeed,” Fornell agreed. “But when used correctly you can get some fantastic results. Col Hadley will get him back on even keel and we get to see how the new information helps with solving the case.”

***************

Steve sized up his competition. For all her quiet poise he knew that Ziva David had some skills. She’d have to, given she admitted to being Mossad trained. They circled each other warily on the mats.

She gave a tentative lunge, taking in his easy evasion and follow-up grab to try to subdue her. Too early in the match as Ziva twisted out and regained her balance.

For twenty minutes the duo were engaged in an elaborate dance, neither failing or winning. Then Steve decided he wanted a break and threw himself at the woman, taking her down. Before he could actually subdue her, Ziva used her powerful leg muscles to capture and flip him onto his belly.

“I think I am the winner,” she whispered into his ear as she pulled one arm back.

“Oh, I think not,” he growled as he gained a purchase with his feet and launch up and back, taking her down. 

“Why don’t we call a truce,” she suggested as she popped him in the gut. Neither could gain the upper hand.

“Ok,” Steve grinned as he jumped to his feet and offered her a hand up. They moved over to the refreshment table and poured out water and snapped up towels.

Across the room a very unrepentant Kono was glaring down at Farr. He had blood pouring out from his nose and one of his team mates was trying to staunch it.

“That was a dirty trick,” she huffed. “You’re lucky I only caused it to bleed!” Turning, she stomped across the room and grabbed a towel then snatched the water out of Steve’s hand.

“What happened?” he asked gruffly trying to quell his desire to pulverize the already downed man.

“He got a little fresh,” she grunted as she sipped at the water. “I’ve broken wrists for the little maneuver he pulled on me!” She peeked down her shirt.

“If it bruises I am so not done with him!” Now both Steve and Ziva glared across the room.

“I thought you were paired with the guy from Florida,” Steve stated.

“Well, Det. Farr decided that he should be able to switch partners,” Kono growled as she wiped sweat out of her eyes. “Jenson wimped out and wouldn’t call him on it.” Steve looked at the supposed group leader who was trying to decide how badly Farr had been hurt.

“Idiot,” Ziva supplied. “I think we are done, no?”

“I think we are done, yes!” Kono said as she gave the empty cup back to Steve. “Let’s go see how the rest of our team is doing.

Which was why the pumped up martial arts team entered the lounge and saw Danny stretched out on a sofa listening to an indulgent Hadley and sipping at coffee. Steve, who had a friendly arm thrown over Ziva and Kono’s shoulders, immediately sprinted over.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. Danny’s eyes opened more fully, still darker than normal but much more alive.

“Nothing, princess,” Williams said as he sipped at his mug.

“Just decompressing,” Hadley said. He picked up a bottle of JD and topped off Dan’s coffee cup.

“Uh, Danny? Are you drunk?” Kono asked as she came up next to her boss.

“Yeah, pretty close to tanked,” he grinned happily. Ziva joined them and looked down at the lounging man. There was something different about him. As she lowered herself into a chair next to the Colonel, Steve sat on the sofa next to his 2IC with Kono on the floor at his feet.

“Is there a reason you’re getting my team mate sloshed?” Steve’s voice hardened. 

“Just reminding him who he is,” Hadley shrugged. “Easier when he’s more pliable.”

“What?” McGarrett growled. Danny patted his knee.

“It’s ok, Steve,” he stretched a bit and snuggled into the sofa. His ohana was here so he could relax. The dark-haired man stared at his friend. 

“I’ll explain in a little while,” Hadley said softly. Finally his charge was relaxing into sleep. Taking the mug away they watched as the inebriated man curled slightly around his friend’s body, hooked his hand over his leg and slipped under. For his part Steve gently rubbed his arm and shoulder helping him settle further.

Once out McGarrett wasted no time in cross-examining Hadley. He wasn’t sure he understood everything that was explained, but Kono and Ziva did. They discussed various points of profiling until Steve was comfortable with what had happened.

“He’s never done anything like this back home,” Steve said.

“Uh, yes, he has,” Kono negated him. “Just not to this extent. He is really good at analyzing things and he can talk suspects in to giving up. If a certain someone doesn’t get annoyed and takes ‘em out.”

“What? Are you telling me I can’t sweet talk a suspect?” he asked.

“No!” she shot back with a disarming smile. 

“But I bet you can subdue them fast!” Ziva said with a smirk. The Hawaiian team leader had impressed her with his fast, dominating moves. She also felt Kono was exceptionally good.

Steve smirked back. He really liked the NCIS officer. They had common ideas about perps and how to handle them.

“Hey, Ziva,” Tony approached the group. “How’s he doing, Colonel?”

“Just fine,” Hadley said. “We’ll let him nap a little before dinner.”

“That was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen,” he said. “And I work for Gibbs!” 

“Did Tobias get something useful?” Hadley asked knowing full well he had.

“As soon as we talked over the evidence and the new views Williams came up with he went off to call the agency,” Tony said. “He definitely had some new leads.”

“Geeze! Little man need his beauty sleep?” a grating voice sounded from behind them. Danny twitched but the quiet hand soothed him back deeper. No one answered Farr as he and his ever-present entourage partially surrounded the group.

“What happen, he trip over his cleats?” another man said. 

“No, he did some fantastic profiling,” Agent Benjamin said as he approached his boss. “He was amazing.” Farr glared at his 2IC but the man did not back down.

“Whatever,” he said. “We need to go discuss today’s workshops.” He turned and moved towards an empty conference room. Benjamin shrugged and followed his leader. “Hey, Boss, why is your shirt bloody?”

“I think he doesn’t like me,” Danny’s voice drifted up from the couch. “I’m hurt! I’m sooo loveable!” he slurred.

“We love you, Haole,” Kono said as she tugged at the pillow under his head. 

“Go back to sleep Danno,” Steve growled softly.

“Quit *yawn* calling me ‘Danno’!” he complained as he settled against the soft pillow.

“He doesn’t like any of you,” Ziva pointed out. “He certainly tried to out do you in the gym.”

“Yeah, poor man,” Kono snickered.

“He needed his ass kicked,” Steve muttered. 

“Kono should have broken his nose,” Ziva pointed out. McGarrett smiled.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

While Danny napped the rest of the group picked up coffee from the bar and settled down to talk. Hadley left to take care of conference business but Tony and Ziva stayed. They could see why McGee so quickly had come to like these people.

More groups seemed to be breaking up. Several people stopped by for a quick chat. By the time Chin and Tim showed up it was nearly time for dinner.

“Hey, what’s up with our Haole?” Kelly asked as he accepted his cousin’s coffee.

“Eh, needed a little nap after Hadley was generous with the JD,” Tony supplied. He held up the nearly empty bottle.

“Yeesh, he was generous!” Chin said as he sipped at the glass.

“Well, we swiped some as well,” Kono admitted as she took the bottle and topped off the mug in her cousin’s hand. 

Ziva stood and stretched then moved over to the couch and perched on the arm. She carefully slipped her fingers over the sleeping man’s hair.

“Daniel, time to wake up!” she said quietly. She watched as he twitched his nose and begin to stretch. He was so cute! Sure, McGarrett was extremely attractive with his muscles and skills, but Williams had his own charms. With a quirky smile the Hawaiian leader reached over.

“Hey, Danny! Time for dinner!” he pushed on a shoulder.

“mmm, no,” came the reply as Williams tried to resettle into sleep.

“Danno! Wakey wakey!” he teased. Two eyes slitted open and glared at his partner.

“Stop calling me Danno!” he growled. Then he felt a hand in his hair and looked up in Ziva’s warm dark brown eyes. Glare switched to slight confusion and he smiled.

“Daniel, it is time to get ready for dinner,” she said as her hand lingered. He sighed and agreed.

“Wait! If we call you Daniel you get bent!” Kono pointed out. 

“Yeah, that’s right!” Steve agreed. Williams just shrugged and continued to smile as David helped him sit up.

“But she could so wipe my ass,” he said as the specially trained assassin helped him stand.

“And we couldn’t?” Chin scoffed.

“Nope, not gonna happen,” Danny said confidently as he swayed slightly. “How much did Jim feed me?”

“Enough to take out an elephant by the looks of it,” Tony displayed the now empty bottle. Williams groaned.

“Please tell me I didn’t finish it off by myself,” he begged. 

“Well...” Steve started in but was quickly cut off.

“No, Daniel, we’ve all been topping off our coffee with it,” Ziva said as she put a steadying arm around his waist. “I think you should eat.”

Tony and Tim glanced at each other with a smirk. David was interested in the Hawaiian 2IC. 

“We need pictures,” Tim whispered to his partner.

Steve was a bit miffed. He thought he’d made some inroads with the black-haired woman but somehow Danny’d captured her interests. As he straightened his shoulders Chin clapped him on the back.

“Hey, better luck next time,” he said, sotto voce. Steve chuckled and agreed.

Once seated waiters began bringing out salads. Kono poured out water for Williams and encouraged him to drink.

“I think I’m still drunk,” he muttered as he sipped. 

“That is ok, we are all fuzzed, no?” Ziva said companionably.

“Buzzed,” Tim helpfully supplied.

“Buzzed or fuzzed, I’m drunk,” Danny swayed slightly and the NCIS agent shifted closer, shoring him up. He gave her a goofy smile.

Now two cameras flashed as Chin and Tony captured the moment.

“He’s sooo cute when he’s drunk,” Kono said as she ruffled his hair, receiving a goofy grin all her own and more pictures being snapped.

Between Ziva and Kono the feeling-no-pain man was given a lot of water and coerced to eat. He soaked up the attention generously meted out and was surprisingly quiet choosing to listen to the conversation around him.

Hadley came in a few minutes later with a very angry Farr at his side. Whatever had happened the NY leader was furious. Looking across the room he immediately focussed in on the Hawaiian team and stormed off in their direction.

“Heads up,” Tony said drawing their attention to the angry man. Farr circled the table. He didn’t say a word, just threw all his hatred into his glare. 

Danny said nothing, just continued to pick at his food. Kono shifted a bit closer; Ziva was already buffering his other flank. Hadley caught up to him.

“Det. Farr, I would suggest you go eat dinner,” he suggested brusquely. If possible, the man looked even more angry. Without a word he turned and stalked off to sit with his team.

“Is it just me or did Jason seem a bit miffed?” Danny hiccuped.

“If looks could killed all four of you’d be six feet deep,” Tony said with an arched eyebrow.

“But we’re sooo loveable!” Kono and Danny sing-songed causing the table to laugh. Hadley came back to the group.

“How are you feeling, Det. Kalakaua? I heard you had some difficulties in your workshop today,” he asked politely.

“I am fine, Colonel,” she smiled sweetly. “I enjoyed the chance to spar with Det. Farr.”

“So I heard,” Hadley smiled tightly. “I just want to reiterate that you need to report to your assigned workshops.”

“There will be no problems from any of my team,” Steve replied. 

“We’re here to assist you in any way,” Tony added from the NCIS group.

“I know that,” Hadley said. “But I’m re-informing each team of that stipulation given that some people have not followed the agenda.” He stormed off to another table group.

“I don’t think Jim loves us,” Danny said sadly. 

“I don’t think Jim loves a certain someone and his team,” Tony said dryly. “And it’s not anyone at this table. They settled back down to eat, both Kono and Ziva working on feeding the still sleepy/happy Williams. 

“I think I need to get this Haole into his jammies,” Steve decided after desert had been devoured. 

“I just hope he stays awake long enough to walk back,” Chin muttered. 

“No such luck,” Ziva chuckled; Danny had fallen asleep on her shoulder. Fortunately Hadley appeared with the promise of a ride back to their lodgings.

****************

 

Chapter 6: Aftermath

The first nightmare hit just after midnight. Danny bolted upright looking around the room searching for anything that was safe. He finally settled on the sight of McGarrett asleep in his bed. 

*Thank god!* he shook himself. The introduced memories of repeated death had insinuated themselves into his dreams. He pushed himself out of bed and went out to the kitchen turning on lights (after making sure both bedroom doors were closed).

Going to the cupboard he found the brandy and poured out a healthy measure. There would be no more sleep for him that night.

Steve woke and wondered what was wrong. He was in his bed. It was night. He rolled over and looked for Danny.

Who wasn’t there.

Getting up he started in the bathroom. No Williams. Then out into the empty front room. Finally into the kitchen. Where Danny sat at the table, eyes darkened, large glass of brandy in hand, simply sipping and sitting.

“Hey, Danny,” Steve said gently as he sat next to his partner. “Trouble sleeping?” The bottle of brandy had seriously depleted itself. 

“Guess so,” he replied as he sipped at his glass. 

“What’s wrong?” Steve pressed, needing to help his friend.

“Nothing. Everything,” Danny sighed, taking a bigger ‘sip’. 

“Nightmare? About Farr? Jersey?” he pressed, trying to get to the problem at hand. Drinking the amount that was being tossed down was not a good thing.

“Just from the profiling,” Williams admitted. “Can’t clear the crime scenes in my head. I just keep seeing him murdering family after family. Can’t get rid of that damned knife and the duct tape and the mirrors.” The dark pools of Danny’s eyes were frightening.

Steve was at a loss. He’d never dealt with this. Hadley certainly didn’t say anything about nightmares, all that he’d done was pour enough Jack Daniels into Danny to make him pass out. He’d have to wing it in true Navy seal style.

“What can I do? What do you need?” he asked, desperately wanting to help his partner. 

“Nothing,” Danny shrugged. “Rachel’d just tell me to sleep on the couch when the nightmares hit. I’d just keep drinking ‘til it all stopped. Sometimes a night, sometimes three or four. I’ll sleep on the couch so I don’t wake you.”

“You... you just work through this on your own?” Steve asked, incredulous.

“Yeah. Who wants to deal with nightmares that aren’t even your own?” Danny asked. “No one. Certainly not me. But I have to deal with it and make sure no one else has to.”

Steve just stared at his partner. He remembered how Williams had insisted he’d taken care of himself, by himself, for a long time. He didn’t know that meant the aftermath of a case. 

Damn. Of course it did! He cursed Hadley for not stepping in. Then he cursed Rachel for being so cold-hearted. Finally himself and everyone else that had missed or ignored Dan Williams’ turmoil.

Carefully he pulled his chair up and against Danny, his arm settling over the chilled body trying to act aloof.

“Let’s stop drinking, Danny,” he said, taking the glass out of his friend’s hand. “And go back to bed.”

“I’ll just wake you,” Williams said. “Better if I take the couch.”

“I’m thinking you should get into my bed, with me,” McGarrett said. “Maybe a warm body will help you sleep.” Danny peered at him skeptically. 

“Don’t know,” he said. “Rach would always kick me out first hint of a nightmare. Said she couldn’t handle my police crap.”

“Well, I can,” Steve said in a determined voice. He pushed the brandy away and helped him to his feet.

Williams balked. No one had ever helped him through the aftermath of profiling a bad case. Hell, no one had helped him period until his ohana did a few months back. It still amazed him that anyone could care for a loud mouth, opinionated, Jersey transplant.

But Steve persisted and soon he had Danny back in bed between the sheets while he opted to slip under the blankets and comforter. He carefully settled an arm just over his friend’s back and allowed himself to relax back into sleep.

*****************

The next morning Kono found her cousin missing and after some investigating discovered him curled up tightly against Danny with Steve against the Haole’s other side. 

Williams looked like he’d barely slept, his eyes jerking beneath his eyelids and small sounds that sounded a little like whimpers escaping his throat. Without thought she reached over to sooth him back into sleep. Chin stretched.

“Hey, cuz, come to join the party?” he said quietly.

“Don’t think there’s enough room,” she pointed out. “Rough night?”

“Yeah, Steve said he had nightmares from the profiling he did,” Chin explained. A large, loud, yawn sounded from the Navy Seal.

“I just wish Hadley had let us know,” McGarrett grumbled. “Would have saved a lot of brandy and Jack Daniels.”

“And maybe saved me from the hangover,” Danny groaned without moving.

“You know, we should just all sleep on the floor in a heap,” Kono said with a smirk. “We could tell ghost stories and do our nails and...”

Steve lunged upwards and grabbed her. For a few minutes there was elbows, knees and hands flying then Chin managed to escape pulling Danny with him.

“Hey! Hangover here!” Danny rubbed an aching head.

“I couldn’t let her get away with that girly comment!” Steve started then found himself being thrown off the bed by the girly girl.

“I’ll get Gracie to help and we’ll curl your hair, too!” Kono crowed as she jumped on the bed proclaiming her victory.

“Why do you guys always seem to regress when I’m under the weather,” Danny groaned as he started for the bathroom. “I swear, a bunch of kindergartners have more maturity! I bet you all run with scissors! And eat paste. That would explain the poi. And don’t get me started on your obsession with pineapple on pizza! A desecration, that’s what it is! Crazy, wave-riding, neanderthal, children!” His voice faded as the door closed firmly and the shower could be heard. 

“What does him mean, ‘crazy’?” Steve protested from his position wrapped in sheets on the floor.

“I certainly don’t run with scissors!” Kono stated firmly. Chin shook his head and went out to the kitchen.

“I need coffee to deal with any of you... children!” he growled.

Kono took one more bounce on the bed before heading to her room to change. Steve pulled himself up off the floor and slung the sheets and covers back on the bed. He made a mental note to leave a bigger tip given how trashed the room was.

Going into the bathroom he shaved and brushed his teeth waiting for his turn in the shower. As soon as the Haole emerged he took his turn. 

Kono had coffee ready for the hung-over detective. With a moan Danny sank down at the table and started in on his mug. He ignored his team mates as they poured over maps of the area. No way he was going hiking today!

“If we start soon we can do the four mile loop,” Chin said as he traced his finger around the map.

“I’ll call the desk and see if they can pack us something hot to drink,” Kono said. A knock at the door pulled them from the map. Opening it Chin discovered the NCIS team smiling on their porch.

“Hey, you guys still going on that hike this morning?” Tony asked as he hung his coat on a hook.

“Yups,” Chin grinned, “but it looks like Danny’s gonna stay put.”

“All that JD and brandy last night hasn’t helped his owies,” Kono added. Danny just sneered at her.

“Well, you kicking Steve off the bed didn’t help much, either,” her cousin pointed out reasonably. 

“She did NOT kick me off the bed,” McGarrett declared as he entered the kitchen and handed his partner some tylenol for his headache. “I fell off.”

“I soo kicked your butt, boss!” Kono smirked.

“You know, McGoo, I see why you like this group,” Tony said with a grin of his own.

“It is just like home, no?” Ziva asked as she slid into the chair next to Williams who was breathing in the hot coffee fumes.

“Except it’s usually Tony that’s hung over,” Tim helpfully pointed out.

“And Gibbs kicks Tony’s butt,” Ziva added.

“So, are you going hiking?” Tony quickly derailed that conversation. “And can we join you?”

“Yes! Kono and I want to try this trail,” Chin pointed out the line on the map. Steve hesitated.

“Uh, maybe I’ll stay here with Danny,” he said. David’s smile lit up.

“Oh, I will stay,” she said brightly. “I have a novel I’m in the middle of and he can nap!” 

“I can actually be by myself,” Danny growled. “I am over thirty after all.” 

“So not gonna happen, aikane,” Steve laid a careful hand on his shoulder before ruffling his hair.

“Then you go on the hike and work off some of that testosterone, will ya?” he muttered. “I’ll go over to the conference lounge with Ziva and relax on a couch while she reads.” 

“Will you eat something?” Steve prodded and received an awful glare.

“Not now, Mom!” Williams sulked.

“I will make sure he eats,” Ziva promised. Steve leaned over.

“What about your, ah, profiling?” he tried discretion.

“I won’t be ‘profiling’,” he lifted his mug to take another sip.

“Well then, let’s get ready for that hike!” McGarrett straightened up.

Within a half hour the intrepid mountain hikers, complete with map, emergency pack and hot mocha, took off down the trail while Danny and Ziva headed over to the conference center.

“Why don’t you walk me to my room,” she said with a smile.

“Of course,” his headache much better with caffeine and tylenol on board.

“Perhaps we could engage in some interagency activities of our own,” Ziva slid a little closer causing Danny to look at her in surprise. Just what was she suggesting?

“Mutual efforts for maximum gains?” he queried.

“Mmm, definitely mutual benefits,” she said sliding her arm through his.

Ok, maybe having his butt knocked down had an upside, especially with this beautiful, deadly, woman coming on to him. He just hoped he would be up to the task!

 

*****************

 

Chapter 7

As Danny followed Ziva into her room he realized how exhausted he was. He sank back on a chair and watched as the she expertly pulled down the duvet and sheet exposing the bed. She then turned, hands on hips, and her eyes sized him up.

“In Mossad and at NCIS I have seen a lot of terrible things,” Ziva began. “Horrendous things. Things that kept me and my team mates from sleeping.”

“I’m sorry, Ziva,” Danny said simply. She gestured with one hand and moved to his chair, perching on the arm.

“I have profiled, tried to figure out what a murderer was doing, but never so well as to ‘see’ what that person sees,” she set a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged.

“It is a blessing and a curse,” he sighed. 

“Ah, yes, it is a blessing, especially when you can catch the creature and put it away, no?” David smiled slightly.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“But the curse, you are not, how do you say, comfortable? In your body,” she searched for the right words.

“Comfortable in your own skin,” he chuckled slightly. “Yeah, I feel... shifted. My dreams are not my own. Sometimes when I am awake, I am not myself, but a weird combination of perp and me.”

“Ah, yes, that I understand,” Ziva smiled once again. “In Mossad we had to see terrible things, we had to do terrible things. Sometimes I would forget me, I would only be the creature on the hunt. But I learned how to get rid of that creature from my head. I can help you get rid of the evil in your mind.” Danny looked into her eyes.

“I am not used to that kind of help,” he tried. “Steve, he’s the first to even try beyond pouring me liquor. Chin was right behind him to help. Kono, too.”

“They offered you a safe harbor, no?” she pursued, “warmth while you tried to sleep?” Blushing very slightly he nodded.

“Ah, then this is what I am offering,” she brightened. “I will help you get back into your skin.” He looked at her rather uncertain with the idea.

“First, you will need to take off most of your clothes,” she stood up. “Leave on your thermal pants and shorts. Oh, and socks. Then lie down on the bed on your stomach. I will get what I need.” As she walked into the bathroom Williams wondered what he’d gotten into.

What followed was nearly two and a half hours of restful sleep. He’d been tense, especially when she straddled his hips, but her firm, lotion-slicked hands worked magic all over his back. Her gentle interrogation of his daughter and ohana completely filling him with himself and ridding him of the lurking evil shadows of someone else’s actions.

After he’d fallen asleep Ziva smiled affectionately. She covered him with the warm covers and pulled the chair close. Pulling out her novel, she settled down to guard his sleep.

**********************

After stretching and cleaning up a bit a much more relaxed Daniel Williams emerged from Ziva David’s room. They walked side by side to the conference lounge and found a couch that was bathed in sunlight.

“I will get us some coffee,” she offered as she helped him lay down, pillow under his head. He smiled at her.

“Thank you,” he sighed as he found a comfortable position on his side. The pleasant lassitude was creeping up on him and he felt another nap was in order. He was drifting into a warm dream featuring his daughter building a sandcastle while his ohana surfed in the background when he felt himself lifted off the couch with a jerk.

“So, Detective Williams,” a deep voice intruded on his dream and the shake snapped his head sharply, “no one here to hide behind.” Opening his eyes he glared at one of the NY team. He was vaguely aware that there were several others encircling him.

“I don’t hide behind anyone,” he rumbled. 

“Right. That ape of a partner and those scrawny ‘cousins’ actions indicate you do.” He gave Danny another joint jarring shake. “You need to learn about respect, Det. Williams,” he growled. He held Danny high, toes barely touching the floor. “Detective Farr is the best there is. He’s solve over 200 murder cases including several serial cases. You are just some insignificant piece of shit.” 

“It really doesn’t matter what his track record is or what my track record is, detective! This conference is to build contacts, learn how to work with other agencies. To cooperate,” he stared unamused into the offensive man’s eyes.

“It’s the fourth day and I don’t even know you or your... colleagues... names!” his voice dripped sarcasm. “I can tell you the names of many other people here. I can show you their numbers and email contacts on my phone. Who have you met?” The still unnamed man’s eyes narrowed as 

“Detective Farr should be giving this conference, not Hadley!” another man asserted, “who needs the numbers of some rinky dink little wanna be cops?” He shoved up against the nearly dangling man and elbowed him sharply in the back.

The bruised ribs complained immediately and Danny clenched his eyes closed against the pain and nausea that welled up.

“Detective Williams has some trouble acknowledging his superiors,” the first man said as he gave another sharp shake. “What do you say, Williams?”

“I say I’m gonna throw up,” Danny replied as his face paled. “As for ‘superiors’, Farr doesn’t even come close!” He tried desperately to keep his stomach where it was.

Across the lounge Ziva was carrying coffee and pastry for her friend. She saw the confrontation and dropped the tray. Running, she leapt over the couch and quickly pulled Danny to her, knocking the offending hands away. The sheer anger in her dark eyes caused the NY detective to take a half-step back.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” she asserted as she pulled the shaking man to her side. 

“Gonna hurl,” he muttered and she immediately secured a flower vase dumping water and blooms on several of the circling men. Retching hurt like crazy, especially since it was nearly all dry heaves. 

The NY team was now angry, some wet, and their objective of cowing the Hawaiian 2IC into respecting Farr had not been met! But before they could retaliate their leader himself came up.

“What the hell are you doing, Williams?” he demanded, shoving himself against the panting 2IC of 5-0. “Why are you bothering my men?!” Before he could say anything else a large hand grabbed his elbow and swung him around.

Colonel James Hadley, every inch of his 6-foot plus demeanor imposing, glared into his eyes.

This was sooo not good.

“We need to talk,” Hadley growled menacingly. “Gentlemen, stand down and return to quarters. Franklin, Farr, with me.” he directed.

“Come, Daniel,” Ziva said as she helped the now shaking man back to the couch. Several conference center staff approached and began to clean up the water and mess. A blanket appeared and was carefully tucked around Danny.

“I will get you something for the pain and something to settle your stomach,” she patted his shoulder.

*************

“This is aurite!” Kono exclaimed as the stood overlooking the lodge and conference center below them. The sky was a startling blue such as they’d never seen in Hawaii and the snow sparkled like diamonds on the fir trees.

Chin’s and Tony’s cameras clicked away. The NCIS duo had been in plenty of snow but there was an ethereal beauty here that they never encountered in the city. 

“Man, too bad Danny’s not here,” Chin said. “We could get a group picture for our wall!”

“Eh, we’ll shoot one before we leave,” Steve said as he leaned against a tree. He took a deep breath of snowy pine air. It was good here. Not Hawaii, but good none-the-less. Maybe their Haole had actual reasons why he was homesick for New Jersey.

Not that he’d ever admit it! 

Well, maybe.

The silence was broken by the shriek of a bird. Bright blue feathers zipped through the branches before alighting on a nearby branch.

“Stellar jay,” Tim identified, noting the mohawk-like crest of black feathers. He pulled a protein bar out of his pocket, broke off a piece and tossed it close to the bird. Its glossy black eyes studied the humans then the ground. In a graceful dive it quickly snapped up the treat and zipped back up to the relative safety of the tree. 

A new rustling met their ears as something skittered along the tree. Another set of shiny eyes peered down expectantly. Kono swiped the bar from McGee and broke off a chunk and flipped it under the tree. They watched as a grey-brown squirrel carefully scramble down the trunk stopping often to be sure the hikers stayed put. 

Finally it reached the treasure, picked it up with sure paws, turning it over several times until it found the perfect place to latch its teeth on and scampered back up the tree where it settled on the branch to eat.

“Aren’t you gonna tell us what type of rodentia that was, McBoyscout,” Tony drawled. 

“Squirrel,” he shot back. “And it’s a member of the sciuridae family which is from the rodentia order. The ancient Greek name, ‘skiousos’, means ‘shadow tail’. Personally, I like the old French name, ‘escurel’.” Tony burst into laughter.

Kono punched him on the arm, hard!

“HEY!” DiNozzo whined, rubbing his injured appendage. Chin and Steve just chortled, happy their team mate was focussed on injuring someone else for a change. Tim grinned in thanks, took back the protein bar and broke it into small pieces and scattered them under the tree.

“Better get going,” he said. “Lunch is in about an hour.”

“Yups, let’s go boys and girls,” Steve started down the trail.

 

****************

When they arrived back at the conference center they were actually surprised to see Ziva reading her novel with Danny’s head pillowed on her lap, a blanket tucked around him. Deeply asleep, he didn’t even stir when they settled in chairs around them.

“My god, you actually read fiction!” Tony said quietly. “And, and, it’s a historical romance! I thought it would be a book on the latest interrogation techniques for assassins!” Ziva rolled her eyes as she set the book down.

“Yes, I in fact do read fiction,” she said as she carefully placed her hand on William’s sleeping shoulder and picking up her mug in the other.

“How long has he been asleep?” Kono asked.

“He looks a little pale,” Chin added.

“About 45 minutes. He had... an encounter with some of the New York group,” she rumbled. “He’d finally relaxed enough to not be tormented by nightmares and those idiots ruined it.”

“What? What happened,” McGarret demanded. Succinctly, the Israeli woman detailed the meeting and the subsequent medication given. She admitted she had no idea what type of reprimand Hadley had given the NY group.

A host came over and announced, “Lunch is being served.”

“Better wake him up,” Chin said. “He hasn’t eaten, has he?”

“No, just some mocha coffee,” David said, “a few bites of a sweet roll.”

Waking up this time was much more gentle. He felt hands carefully uprighting him on the couch and being buffered by bodies on either side and in front of him.

“Hey, Danno, time to get some food in that stomach of yours,” Steve carefully shook him.

“Quit calling me Danno,” Williams groaned as he squinted. When the ambient light didn’t hurt he opened his eyes the rest of the way and glared sleepily at his partner.

“Daniel, it is lunch time,” Ziva caught his attention. With a slow, sleepy inhalation he stretched slightly and sat up more fully. It took both the Navy Seal and NCIS officer to get him to his feet and moving towards the lunch room. 

As they were passing through the hallway to the door most of them noted a pile of suitcases by the glass doors and the NY group milling nearby. Dark looks were being thrown in their direction.

Tony and Tim moved so they were between the Hawaiian group and the NY group. It was a poor defense if something happened, but before anything could be said or done Col. Hadley stepped out with a very sullen Det. Farr. The Colonel nodded towards the mixed group and indicated they should proceed into the room. 

“That did not look good,” Kono whispered to Chin as they found a table. Lunch was once again a buffet-style event and soon plates full of hot grub were being poked at. 

“So, what’s on tap for this afternoon?” Tim asked no one in particular. Several shrugged shoulders and lack of agenda didn’t help answer the question. The munching was interrupted by the high pitched trill of a cell phone. Steve sat up straight and reached into his pocket.

Gov. Jameson’s name showed on the screen.

“The boss,” he said as he hurriedly swallowed and flipped open the phone.

“Governor?” he queried. Then he was very quiet for a long moment listening to the woman rant.

“We didn’t do anything...” he tried but was cut off.

“No, he did not act inappropriately...” the buzzing continued. 

“We’ve been the epitome of professional...” cut off again. 

A shadow fell over him and he looked up meeting Hadley’s eyes. 

“Your Governor?” he asked and received a nod of confirmation. He held out his hand and took the phone from the Navy Seal.

“Hey, Pat, it’s Jim Hadley,” he said as he walked away from the table. Steve slouched down.

“Shit, someone told her we got the New York group kicked out of the conference,” he said. “She is NOT happy.” 

“Farr,” Kono and Tony said together. 

“He’s a fucking asshole,” Danny said decisively as he forked up another bite of enchilada. No one contradicted him. 

“I would not worry about it, commander,” Ziva started.

“Steve,” he gave his more engaging smile.

“Steve,” she returned the smile. “I am certain that Col Hadley will assure your Governor you did nothing wrong.”

With an exaggerated shrug he returned to his plate. They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes. Hadley returned and held out the phone once more. Steve quickly swallowed.

“Ma’am?” he said.

“It was just a little cut...” he started.

“No, he didn’t need to go to the hospital...”

“Yes, he’s taking it easy....”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Steve shifted and held the phone out to a snickering Danny. 

“Governor,” Williams said politely as he smirked at Steve.

“Yes Ma’am...”

“I understand...” his face went blank.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said weakly and held the phone out to McGarrett.

“Ma’am? A few extra days?”

“Yes, Ma’am. Thank you,” Steve gratefully closed the phone.

“Jameson said she’s extended our stay through the weekend,” he explained as he looked around the table and finally settled on Danny.

“She said you’ve been asked to help Col. Hadley in profiling a case,” he offered. Danny had set down his fork and was staring at the plate of food cooling in front of him.

“I thought Fornell’s case was the one he meant when he asked me to profile,” Williams shrugged. “Guess there’s another one that he brought the Laphroig for.” Hadley cleared his throat.

“Yes, it’s quite a puzzler,” he said without moving from McGarrett’s side. “Figure we can look it over tomorrow afternoon when the conference breaks up.” Dan nodded and unconsciously shifted towards McGarrett.

“We’ll be able to sit in on the case?” Steve asked as he moved closer, shoulders just connecting.

“Of course!” Hadley asserted. “The more perspectives the better.” He moved off to the buffet line to get his own plate. McGarrett carefully stretched his arm around his 2IC.

“Hey,” he said softly. “We’ll be there, too.” Danny nodded.

“It’s not that I’m scared or anything,” Williams hedged. “I mean, it’s something I’m good at. Hadley’s been after me for a long time to join his team. I guess he’s still trying.”

“I’d think you’d be interested,” Tony said. “I mean, the prestige of working with him, on his team, pretty sweet.”

“Oh, yeah, it would be a huge career move,” Danny agreed. “But then there’d be no Grace.” He glanced over at McGarrett, “And no pineapple-eating neanderthal surfers talking in their funny language.” This caused the ‘p-ens’ to laugh quietly. Steve gave a quick squeeze then dropped his arm.

“Eat, Haole!” he playfully growled. 

**********************

Chapter 8

The afternoon sessions were much less tense. Teams took turns being questioned about their procedures and select missions they’d worked on. First Austin, then Los Angeles with Chicago finishing the day off. The following morning the Hawaiian, New Orleans and Miami teams would be in the ‘hot seat’.

“How did you get out of being put on the spot?” Kono asked Tony as the group made their way to dinner.

“I guess because our boss isn’t here?” he suggested. “We’re a small team just like you, with a great ME and kick-ass forensics expert. We can’t give you the entire picture.” He flinched as the back of his head was smacked.

“You got my ass dragged out to this conference, DiNozzo,” Jethro Gibbs growled.

“Boss!” the agent turned and put on his most disarming smile.

“No, Jethro, it would be my fault you are here,” Fornell slid in next to the silver-haired man.

“Tobias. I should have known FBI was involved,” he stared at the balding, shorter man with an unhappy look.

“Seems someone named ‘Jim Hadley’ contacted Sec Nav and had me put on a plane,” he grumbled. 

“Come off it, Jethro,” Tobias smirked. “You know exactly who Hadley is.”

“Whatever,” he replied. “Suppose to get fed dinner. Better not be that crappy dried chicken that the government big wigs think we like.” A burst of laughter stopped him dead in his tracks and he slowly turned, his gaze falling on the Hawaiian team. The tallest man was glaring at the other three who seemed to be saying something about ‘bonding’.

“This is one of the crack teams I’m suppose to be impressed with?” he growled.

“Let’s go find you some of that crappy booze you like,” Fornell said. “You definitely need an attitude adjustment!”

“Ooooh, we get to cross examine NCIS,” Chin was grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

“Oh, joy!” Tony shook his head. They settled down at a table. Ziva managed to slide in next to Danny once more. A moment later Fornell shoved Gibbs into a chair on the 2IC’s other side before plopping down himself.

“I see you’ve met Lt Cmdr McGarrett’s team,” Hadley’s voice boomed out as he put his hand on Danny’s shoulder.

“Can’t say that I have, Colonel,” he gave him the same blank ‘I-am-not-amused’ stare he’d treated the others with.

“Ah, then allow me,” he poured a generous measure of Jack Daniels into Danny’s empty water glass and set the bottle next to it. Gibbs perked up slightly. Seeing interest, the younger man poured an equal measure in the older man’s glass, set the bottle down and clinked glasses before taking a sip.

Hadley smirked then proceeded to introduce the table to the NCIS boss. At first appearance they all looked like something out of a Sports Illustrated magazine, freshly tanned and fit. Well, Williams was a little pale, but he had the bottle of JD that he was sharing, so he was acceptable. He listened as McGarrett cautioned his partner about drinking too much and watched as the bottle made the circuit of the table returning only slightly depleted as others seemed to be favoring beer.

As talk turned to some hike the majority of the group had gone on a thick chicken soup was brought out followed by a freshly tossed salad and crusty bread. There was some teasing about Ziva and Danny staying behind to ‘rest’ and figured by the snickers his Israeli agent had done a little interagency work herself. 

“You all have muddy minds!” David threw her hands up.

“Dirty minds,” half the table corrected.

“Muddy or dirty, it is the same. All you think of, Tony, is sex!” she chided.

“You’re gonna try to convince us you two didn’t,” he paused taking in the dual glares,” uh, you know, do that,” he finished lamely.

“We don’t have to convince you of anything, Agent DiNozzo,” Williams’ expressive hands dissing him. Kono looked her friend over carefully.  
“I believe you,” she said simply and went back to eat. If Kono thought nothing happened that was good enough for Chin.

“Same here, bro,” he speared a pear tomato and bit into its sweetness. Steve eyed them skeptically. But Kono was extremely perceptive about such things, able to read body language. With a shrug he returned to his salad. 

Jethro glanced at his men. Tim seemed to not be that interested about any activity Ziva might or might not had. Of course, Tony looked like he was going to burst if he couldn’t get her to ‘fess up. He settled his 2IC down with a very pointed glare and a low, growled ‘DiNozzo!’

A generous fillet was served with garlic fingerling potatoes and fresh green beans. Ok, maybe this was a cut above the normal governmental crap after all. Vance had been all over him about the need to make more contacts throughout the country and to ‘play nice’. 

“So, what groups are here for this shin dig,” he finally joined the conversation. He recognized both the Chicago and Florida team.

“Uh, Steve’s team from Hawaii,” DiNozzo filled him in. “A team from New Orleans, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles and Austin.”

“I’m surprised Farr’s team from New York isn’t here as well,” he said as he cut a piece of meat. He glanced up at the sudden silence.

“What?” he demanded more than asked. Williams picked up his glass and took another sip of whiskey. 

“They were here,” he said. “They were invited to leave.” Eyes narrowing Jethro tried to formulate the best question to get the information he wanted.

“They were not playing nicely with others,” Kono piped up. He turned his eyes to the young, seemingly harmless, woman.

“Play nice?” he asked in an incredulous tone. Was Vance here??

“Jethro, you know Jason’s ego is as big as this room,” Tobias leapt into the fray. “He didn’t like the idea of his team being compared to any other team.”

“He also didn’t like the fact Hadley knows Danny fairly well,” Steve added. “Stole his thunder.” Williams just shrugged.

“Jason Farr felt that the conference was a competition, not for mutual cooperation and benefit,” he said calmly. “He disregarded assignments and agendas. Given he wasn’t contributing to the goals of the conference he was asked to leave.”

“Damn, Haole, you get to fill out all the reports!” Chin grinned as he waved his beer bottle.

“And this differs from SOP how?” Danny drawled as he speared some potato.

“Hey, I have to sign ‘em all!” Steve whined. Williams rolled his eyes dramatically and chewed. Tony, Tim, and Ziva all exchanged glances and smiled. Just like home! 

“Was it anything is specific that caused them to be excused,” Jethro looked at Tobias.

“Not now, Gibbs,” he growled back glancing over at the Hawaiian team leader seated next to him. 

“Geeze, don’t take my head off, it was just a question,” he returned and tipped his empty glass towards Danny. Williams obliged, pouring another large measure into the glass.

“You really don’t want to be here, do you?” the 2IC asked wryly. 

“Nope,” he replied. “These things are a waste of time.”

“Free booze,” Danny came back. “Chance to kick back and not chase murderers and riff raff for a couple days.”

“Well, there is that,” Gibbs conceded. 

“And my neanderthal partner there got to throw some bodies around the mats,” he smirked.

“Hey, I got to take Farr down,” Kono protested. “I was way better than Mr. Neanderthal!”

“Yes, you certainly did,” Ziva said with an appreciative nod. “I wish I could have seen the actual blow. The blood flow was impressive.”

“You took down Farr?” Tobias asked with a grin.

“He took a cheap shot,” Kono tossed her hair. “What did he expect me to do? Curl up and cry?”

“Woman’s got some serious skills,” Danny said. “Do not cross her!”

“You got any skills,” Jethro drawled.

“Just his mouth,” Steve inserted quickly. Danny glared at him but didn’t answer, choosing to take another bite of dinner. Jethro chuckled.

“I can appreciate that,” he said. “Long as it’s not on my team.” The three NCIS agents snickered softly then looked as innocent as babies.

Dessert followed, a whipped chocolate mousse that went quite well with coffee (or JD, whichever). Gibbs was very relaxed and chuckling over the outrageous things Williams would comment on, from pineapple on pizza to why the tie was an important accessory.

Another generous slug of JD hit Jethro’s glass and he appreciatively took a long draw. He had been galled to find himself on a plane to this godforsaken conference, but Williams was generous with his bottle and really, there were no perps to deal with or cold cases.

What he didn’t realize, although everyone else at the table did, was Williams had been topping off his glass at every opportunity without taking any more for himself. The profiler had figured out a liquidated Gibbs would be much preferable to a grumpy one. 

As the evening wrapped up Tony collected his boss and his newly freshened beverage and headed for their room. The Hawaiian team bundled up and headed across the compound back to their cottage. Danny shook the nearly empty bottle.

“I forgot that Jim likes to keep me intoxicated,” he muttered. “Makes him feel like he’s being sensitive to my ‘needs’.”

“More like not wanting to deal with the fall-out of the profiling,” Steve huffed. 

“That, too,” Williams agreed.

“So, we gonna all sleep on the floor and paint our nails?” Kono asked in a chirpy, happy, voice.

“NO!” three men snapped back.

“Darn!” she pretended to be upset, complete with pouty lip.

“Anyway, I think my dreams will be much better,” Danny gave a Chesire grin. “Much better!” His friends laughed knowing they would be thanks to the interagency team building.

*****************

 

Chapter 9

Friday started bright and early with a hearty breakfast at the lodge. The Chicago and Hawaiian teams were totally integrated and chattering happily. The subsequent stroll to the conference center was punctuated with snowballs. 

“Would you quit aiming for my ear?!!” Steve growled at Kono as he shook snow off his head. 

“Ok,” she called cheerfully and launched the next projectile hitting him dead center in the face.

“YOU ARE SO DEAD!” he took off on the run towards the woman easily picking her up and spinning her in a circle.

“Help!” she shrieked. Chin immediately broke off his attack on Danny and raced to ‘save’ his cousin. The resulting tackle left all three people flailing in a snowbank laughing.

“You’re suppose to be a top-notch team, right?” Gibbs slipped silently behind the remaining member of the Hawaiian team. Danny looked at the NCIS officer tooling his face into the same iced, ‘I’m not amused’ face Gibbs had affected the night before.

“Have no doubt, Agent Gibbs,” he said firmly. “We are the best.” He turned and continued the walk to the door leaving his team mates to sort themselves out. He was more than pleased when Ziva met him slipping an arm around his.

“Do not pay attention to Gibbs,” she said. “He is grinchy.”

“Grouchy. Especially given the hangover he must have after you kept filling his glass last night,” Tony added as he held the door open.

“The man has some serious issues,” Williams said. “It must be that ‘boss’ gene. McGarrett has some serious issues as well.” The three paused to watch the tangle of bodies surge up and flip as the Navy Seal easily dumped the cousins deeper into the snow bank.

“Ouch,” Tim said as he took Ziva’s coat and hung it up. A long, manly shriek filled the air.

“Oooh, good move, Kono!” Danny grinned. “Snow down the pants; excellent!” They watched as she leapt to her feet and propelled herself up the path escaping both men who were trying to shake snow out of their pants legs.

The entire group grabbed coffee and were seated when Chin, Steve and Jethro made it through the doors.

“You are so gonna die, Cuz,” Chin whispered through clenched teeth.

“You have to sleep sometime,” Steve added as he gingerly sat down on a chair. Gibbs looked down at Tony until the 2IC gave up his seat next to Danny. Watching the dynamics was interesting to the profiler. So many conclusions could be made just from this.

He was extremely glad he worked with Steve. 

They found themselves up first, loosely seated in front of the group while Hadley began querying them on several operations. Then the requisite cross-examination by the other teams. As with the previous teams’ exams, there were some information-gathering ‘techniques’ that were suspect (Cat’s timely intervention finding radio transmitter locations or tossing a suspect in a shark cage) and some that were more in line with procedure (usually Danny’s) and just good contacts in the community (Chin’s Kamekona and the extended family).

Hadley saved NCIS for last. While the three younger agents were happy to share Gibbs was very terse. His experiences with ‘interagency’ cooperation were not all pleasant. Being on the bottom of the government food chain (well, a step above Coast Guard, but that was tenuous ‘step’ at best) other agencies grudgingly worked with them. As the conversation turned to working with the local LEOs Gibbs did add more information.

“The local law enforcement in any given area can be very protective of their investigations,” he elaborated. “It feels like half the time we have to shore up their egos and let them know we’re not going to subvert their efforts.”

“Or they scoop us,” Tony pointed out. “That one sheriff running for re-election certainly grandstanded when the case was solved.”

“Yeah, but the main point was the case was solved,” Jethro stated. 

“Well, sometimes I’d like some recognition,” DiNozzo grumped. Gibbs reached over and stroked the back of his head.

“Atta boy,” he teased causing everyone to chuckle.

As soon as the panel broke up lunch was offered. Most of the teams were off to pack for afternoon flights. The Hawaiian team wandered into the lunch room and looked over the offerings. A large, flat grill had been set up and a variety of vegetables and meats were on ice. 

“Oooh! It’s a teppan bar!” Kono exclaimed happily as she began loading a plate with vegetables and shrimp. Her team mates followed suite and watched as the older man expertly cooked, tossing his spatula in the air as he moved across the grill.

A large, wicked-looking knife came into play as the slices of meat were dispatched into smaller, bite-sized pieces. New plates were whisked out and piles of steaming stir-fry was easily transferred and handed to each person. The four Hawaiians accepted the food with praise and thanks.

As they sat down they found chopsticks on the table as well as standard cutlery. Paper was ripped and the snapping sound of four sets of chopsticks punctuated the air. A waiter took drink orders as he poured water. 

“This is great!” Danny said as he maneuvered his sticks and picked up a bite.

“I love stir-fry!” Steve agreed around his own mouthful. Chin and Kono looked sideways at Williams. Feeling their eyes he slowly turned.

“What?” he growled, not liking the predatory looks.

“Do you know how to stir-fry?” Chin asked carefully. With a put-upon sigh and roll of eyes Danny tersely nodded.

“Yeah, some stuff,” he said. “Not in Grandma’s book. But it’s kind of a bachelor meal ‘cause it only uses the wok and you can buy nearly all the ingredients pre-sliced.” Chin and Kono exchanged a high-five.

“Kewl! We get stir-fry!” Kono whooped. 

“What’s all the racket about?” a more relaxed Gibbs grouched as he and his team joined the table with their own lunch.

“Just celebrating our team work,” Steve said with a smirk.

“Team work?!!” Danny exclaimed indignantly. “What team work! I prep and cook for hours and all you three do is EAT!”

“We clean up,” Chin pointed out. Another dramatic roll of the eyes.

“I am a very good cook,” Danny said. “I clean as I go. There isn’t any clean up.”

“Ok, we’ll give you that,” Kono decided to be the diplomatic one. “And after much discussion and some actual experience you know none of us can cook like you can.” Ah, yes, flattery will help when dealing with the feisty New Jersey Haole.

“Yeah, don’t you forget it,” Danny settled down a bit, swinging his chopsticks like a maestro’s baton. A quiet snicker sounded around the table as they applied themselves to the hot food once more.

Soon bottles of cold beer appeared as well as a carafe of saki sitting in a warm water bath. The two teams sipped and ate, comparing different styles of holding chopsticks. A few other groups wandered in to get lunch and a low, contented buzz filled the room.

When Hadley entered the room Danny stiffened slightly. Gibbs noted both Chin and Steve shifted protectively, bumping shoulders or placing a hand on the other shoulder.

“So, Dan, what say we meet back at your cottage to go over the case,” Jim smiled. He was happy he had been able to convince Jameson to let him ‘borrow’ her 5-0 team a couple days longer. Williams carefully set down his sticks.

“Actually, why don’t you get a small conference room here?” he countered. “Don’t want to profile in my house, so to speak.” Hadley looked at him strangely but before he could say anything Ziva jumped in.

“He will need some distance, no?” she said. “Once he is done it will be easier for him to relax in a safe place.”

‘Never thought on it before,” the older man said. “Usually we just sit around and discuss wherever we are, office or hotel room.”

“Trust me,” she said, “it will be better for Daniel this way.”

“I am sitting right here,” Williams grouched. “Just so you know.”

“I’ll get us a conference room,” Hadley conceded. “We’ll meet in an hour or so.” He moved on towards the doors to find a host. Gibbs noted the chopsticks that had been so animated were set on the plate and hands disappeared onto the lap.

Curious. He was certain that this younger man had done this sort of work in the past, and quite well given that Hadley was interested in him. He reflected on some of the profiling he’d done, the knowledge he’d divined. Then extrapolated it into other areas of his life. He thought of Ducky, captured by the mortuary family, knowing without having to think he’d be drained of his blood and embalmed alive.

Ok, there were reasons not to profile. It had taken multiple bottles of Jack Daniels and many planed ribs on his current boat to get those images, both imagined and real, out of his dreams.

Come to think of it, liquidation was his way of dealing with the nightmares. It wasn’t a very healthy way, but he’d been pretty darned effective of keeping others at bay. Seemed that Williams had three very determined friends to help him deal with problems.

It was that thought that caused him to look at his own team. Thought of Duck and his understanding kindness. 

Maybe it was about time he accepted an invite to a post-case drink.

************************

As the first pictures were laid out Steve started to regret his offer to sit in on the case. The other task force teams had headed to the airport and ultimately back to their cities leaving the little Hawaiian team at the now silent conference center.

They thought they were alone, until the Gibbs’ team sauntered into the conference room and rearranged furniture to include themselves at the table.

“Hadley deigned to mention the case he’s brought,” Jethro said with a tight-lipped nod. “We worked it about a year ago and didn’t get anywhere. A Navy Seal’s daughter was murdered.”

“Case went cold,” Tony added. 

Across from him Kono squirmed miserably. Children. A serial killer who targeted young children was loose in the DC/Virginia/Maryland area. As far as anyone could tell there was no pattern to the abductions nor any set ‘type’ of child being taken. Boy, girl, hispanic, African American, white, nothing.

Glancing over to partner Steve could tell the Haole was disturbed. The children were all Grace’s age, the only commonality. Well, that and they’d been picked up near the school they attended. Why they had been left alone was beyond understanding if Williams was to go by. He never let Gracie out of his sight!

“Let me see the list of abductions again,” the Jerseyite asked. Anything so he did not have to look at his daughter lying there in front of him. There were twelve names on the list, twelve different schools, both private and public, twelve different towns. 

“We never found any patterns,” Tim said as his hands moved slowly over the pictures. “We checked every surveillance camera available, couldn’t find anything special about the places he left the bodies. Never found where he took the children, to, ah, kill them.”

“Is this in the order of abductions?” Danny asked suddenly, “or in the order your found them?” Hadley looked down the list.

“Ordered by when we found them,” he replied then typed into his laptop. Getting the information wanted he flipped the screen around. Williams glanced down the list, eyes cold and dark. 

“He went alphabetically through the towns,” Dan said in an off-hand tone. “Third letter in.” That caused all eyes to swivel to him.

“He’ll go for a male next,” he added. “Most likely African American, but that’s not a certainty.”

“How do you figure that, Williams?” Gibbs frowned as he looked over the younger man’s shoulder at the screen.

“Boys, prime numbers, girls, composite,” he explained. “I only said African American because the last one was was six kills back. They’re due.” Danny grimaced. What a horrible thought.

Hadley sighed as he tossed out another set of folders. 

“The case is no longer cold, gentlemen,” he said. “Which is why I brought it along. We have absolutely nothing but another dead child. African American male.” The folder was opened and the photo of a smiling child in his school uniform looking up innocently. 

Williams ran his finger over the edge of the photo barely registering as McGee confirmed the town he was taken from, Romney, West Virginia. This person was full of confidence. He didn’t need to take any coup, no pieces of clothing or hair or whatever. He could take pictures, Danny supposed. Chronicle his kills.

But something about that didn’t feel right. These were bold, blatant murders. Very little, if any, blood involved. He shuffled through the pictures of the bodies. No strangulation marks around the neck but the coroner report specified death by suffocation.

He paled and bolted for the bathroom when his profiler mind met with his father mind. Chin was on his six.

“Damn, he was nearly in,” Hadley said in disappointment. He reached for his case and pulled out the Laphroig, pouring a healthy measure into a glass and set it at the missing man’s place.

“Do you have to get him drunk?” Steve growled at the older man.

“He needs to break away from his disgust, anger and fear of what the murderer is doing,” Hadley stated. “He doesn’t need to be drunk, but the liquor will relax him enough to let go and see the case from a killer’s eyes.”

“You mean the kid goes that deep?” Jethro was impressed. Few profilers actually got that personal with the perp.

“He does. I’ve been after him for years to come back to DC and work for me,” the Colonel sighed. “Always refuses. I know it’s because of his child.”

“I would think he would have horrible nightmares,” Ziva said. “Daniel strikes me as an emotional person. He would become an alcoholic very quickly if he worked for you.”

“If it takes one more sadistic murderer off the streets,” Hadley said calmly.

“But you’re sacrificing Danny!” Kono protested.

“The need of the many takes precedent,” he shrugged. He received six glares in return.

“I take it back,” Tony said. “The hell with prestige.” The noise of an opening door stopped the conversation as Chin sauntered in, arm over Danny’s shoulders guiding him to the table.

“Reverse stir fry does not taste good,” Williams grouched as he returned to his seat. “Just sayin’.” He picked up the glass and sniffed before taking a small sip then returned to the information spread out before him.

The next hour found the teams passing around various bits of paper and photos. Questions were poised and answers mulled over. Two more laptops, Chin’s and Tim’s, were open and used to access the online files. Maps of the areas where children had been taken and bodies found. 

Danny pulled one computer closer and started to idly flip through additional pictures of the crime scene. His eyes had darkened to the point you could barely tell they were blue. Fingers had slowed as they gently stroked the faces of the children. Hadley nudged Gibbs.

“What do you see?” the Colonel asked quietly. This brought everyone’s attention back to the Haole. 

“Pretty pictures,” he said in a low voice. “So many pretty pictures. I can see them any time I want.” Gibbs glanced at Hadley who gave a slight nod.

“Do you have pictures of the children?” he asked. Danny’s eyes, deep black pools of nothing, locked on to him.

“No, I don’t need pictures,” he replied.

“Photographic memory?” Chin offered. No answer.

“Why don’t you have pictures?” Gibbs followed up.

“I have pictures,” Danny said. “See? Lots and lots of pictures. I can see them anytime.” Steve could not stand the evil that pooled in his friend’s eyes and reached out, touching his shoulder.

“Danny?” he said ignoring the hiss of anger from the man across from him. Williams blinked a few times, eyes starting to loose the soulless depth.

“He, he can access the pictures from the case files,” Danny wheezed. He has access to police files.” He turned towards Chin.

“Can you find out who has access to the files? Who has access them often?” he asked.

“Sure,” Chin nodded. “Tim?” Together the two ‘geeks’ started tapping furiously on their laptops as they began their trace. Hadley took the bottle of Laphroig and topped off William’s glass. A shaky hand reached out and a healthy swallow followed. 

With a protective growl Steve shoved his chair against Danny’s as Ziva mirrored the action on the other side. They were both slightly surprised as the cold seeped into their sides. Williams was chilled, very slight tremors could be felt.

“Danno?” McGarrett began but his Danno wasn’t really there, a steady hand reached out to stroke an image on the laptop.

“Her eyes are open,” he said softly. “Just a slit. In all the other pictures they’re closed.” His head slowly tilted to one side as he gazed at images of a black-haired girl. His body suddenly was seized by a long shudder.

“She was alive,” he snatched his hand back from the screen. “In this picture she was alive.” 

“Get me a blanket,” Ziva snapped. Kono jumped up to comply. Hadley glared angrily.

“C...can you check the camera details? You know, Chin, you showed me once you can see what digital camera took the pictures?” The older cousin nodded readily.

“Sure, I can do that,” his fingers began flying over his keyboard while Tim continued working on access to the files. Steve and Ziva moved even closer to the now shaking man feeling their warmth being sucked away from their bodies.

“There’s been a lot of access to the files from two different computers, Boss,” McGee said. “I’ll get locations for you.”

“You’re right, Danny,” Chin put in. “Camera information is consistent for each crime scene. Except...”

“Except?” Hadley pushed, excited.

“Except... here,” Chin wrote down some information. “And here. I have to keep looking but there’s a camera being used on these two cases,” he tossed the pad to Hadley, “that don’t match the rest of the camera information.”

Kono reentered the room and carefully settled a warm blanket over her friend’s shoulder. Ziva and Steve wrapped him keeping him snug between them. Gibbs reached over and pulled the lap top away from him and gathered up the pictures.

“Hey, he needs those!” Hadley snapped. 

“No, he does not,” Jethro said firmly. “You’ve gotten enough from Williams.” The protective nature of the NCIS agent came to the forefront. He was all for taking out the bastard that’d killed all those children, but torturing the kid from Hawaii was wrong. He’d given everything, including a piece of his soul, to connect the dots.

“But he might be able to get more!” Jim protested. He received glares from the protective foursome.

“If we can’t catch the animal with this then we’re in the wrong line of work,” Gibbs asserted.

“Bingo,” Tim perked up with a huge grin. “First computer is online. It’s located in the DC police station. I’ll pin it down further in a couple minutes.” 

“It looks like one or two pictures in each case file comes from the same digital camera,” Chin said. “I’ll keep checking, but the first six I looked at do.”

Nearly six years after the first body was found by joggers in a Virginia park the murderer was picked up by agents from the Presidential Task Force on Child Endangerment. A police detective, Robert Conway, a respected but not decorated member of the DC police force, had been picked up and confessed a mere two hours after Chin Ho Kelly and Timothy McGee provided conclusive evidence to his involvement in the string of murders.

Chapter 10 Cogitating

Colonel James Hadley had packed up quickly and rushed off to the airport to catch the first flight he could back to DC.

Which left the debris of the closure to the assembled duo team of NCIS and Hawaii 5-0. The loosely assembled teams looked at the closed off body language of the Haole. Not a good picture. He cradled a glass of scotch in his hands staring away into nothingness.

“Any suggestions?” Gibbs asked in genuine concern. 

“I got him to talk about his daughter and friends,” Ziva offered. “But he looks too unsettled to do that right now.”

“I’d put him to bed,” Steve considered, “except it’s barely 7, which is 4 in Hawaii.”

“And we all need to eat!” Chin pointed out. “Looks like we’re on our on for that!”

“Couple good restaurants nearby,” Tony said. “Steak, pizza, Chinese.”

“Pizza,” a voice came up from the seated man. “No fruit!” The loosely assembled turned towards him.

“Daniel?” Ziva took a step towards him. His eyes still were dark and unnerving. 

“Yeah, I’m here now,” he said shortly and set down the half-full glass, shoving it away. “Sorry about that.”

“The only thing I’m upset about is how Hadley took off!” Kono growled as she put her hand on his shoulder. A barely restrained flinch was ignored as she stepped closer.

“He got what he needed,” Williams shrugged. “Had to go tie up his case. He’s good at getting results.”

“Sometimes the ends doesn’t justify the means,” Steve grumbled as he sidled up to his friend. Danny was still shivering, more than likely from the shock than being cold.

“It got that... creature... off the streets,” he said quietly. “Hadley just uses all the tools he has at his disposal.” McGarrett crouched down in front of the shaking man.

“You, Danny Williams, are not a tool!” he growled as he grabbed cold hands and colder eyes. Eyes that scared him, and he was a damned Navy Seal! 

“You’re my partner and friend,” he continued, searching the dark depths for a glimmer of that person. “You’re Gracie’s Danno!” The blond-haired man ducked his head.

“I know,” his voice cracked slightly. “I know who I am. But I also can taste the deaths of each of those children; of each of those families from Tobias’s case. They are part of me, now. God knows I don’t want those memories, but...” he savagely shook his head. 

“Hey, it’s gonna be ok,” Steve said softly as he pulled his friend tight against him. Danny heaved a huge sigh as he accepted the comfort. He felt Kono’s hand running over his back as he closed his eyes. 

After a few minutes someone’s stomach rumbled. The Haole snickered as he patted his friend’s stomach.

“I’m surprised it’s not yours, Williams,” Gibbs observed the others joining in the light laughter. “With that reversed stir fry and all.”

“I am,” he said as he leaned back against the chair. “At least, I know I should be.”

“Then let’s go check out the pizza,” Tony decided. “I mean, they have to have thin crust, right?”

“I don’t know, Tony,” Tim said in a doubtful tone. “It’s Colorado, man, way too far west for decent pizza.”

“Hey, closer to Jersey than Hawaii,” Danny countered as he slowly got to his feet. He was a little lightheaded from the alcohol and lack of food; Steve grabbed an arm to steady him.

“Our cars are just out front,” Tony supplied. The group slowly made their way to the door, snagging and donning jackets and scarves. Chin managed to get ahold of his exhausted friend’s arm and offer his support. He received a half-quirked grin.

“Can I be Holmes?” Williams asked, sotto voce. Kelly, also a Sherlock Holmes fan, smiled broadly.

“Of course, my dear Holmes,” he replied.

“Excellent, Watson,” Williams fully smiled. They walked down to the parking lot arm in arm a la the detective/doctor duo. 

Little less than a half-hour later they were seated at a long table looking over the choices the restaurant offered. Tony was pleased to see thin crusts offered and Kono was pleased with the option of pineapple. With some ‘negotiation’ they settled on three different pies and a family-styled salad. Pitchers of beer were ordered and soon they were finally relaxing.

Jethro Gibbs looked around at the assorted people, his and McGarrett’s. Even though they hadn’t actually gone out to pick up the perp, the case had been so upsetting it felt like he had. With guns blasting and a huge physical altercation to boot. After a day like that he was ready to hunker down in his basement and spend quality time with his boat and Jack.

He knew that his agents would go out after a case. He figured they were unwinding. He vaguely recalled early on doing that when he could, but then Shannon and Kelly were killed and he lost interest in the end-of-case drink. People died, friends died, his family died, and he hadn’t wanted to let them go, holding on to the memories tight to his chest. 

Here there was laughter as they teased one another. He watched as the tension slowly bled away. Listened as Williams once more asserted he worked with a pack of pineapple-eating neanderthals. Heard Steve rumble about anal-retentive, rule-enforcing Haoles. 

As he observed he could hear Ducky’s voice in his head, taking him to dinner after some of the worst cases, knowing the older man would listen if necessary, provide the distraction and distance always. Williams was throwing a balled-up napkin at McGarrett, his eyes finally blue again. He felt a knot loosen inside his chest.

Of all the agents there Dan was the one he connected with the most. Oh, McGarrett and he had plenty in common on several levels, but the ability to sink into a perp’s mind so firmly recalled his own famous ‘gut’. Just a look at a person could evoke reactions. When those clear blue eyes blackened into soulless wells, it actually frightened him. Him! Jethro ‘Bastard’ Gibbs! No one should have to go to such an evil place.

But even knowing he’d have a terrible price to pay, between the nightmares and the self-destruction through alcohol, Williams went in. Gone in, saw and felt what the killer did. He wondered what was worse: seeing the murders or feeling the thrill of the kill. He quelled a shudder as he covertly looked over at the younger detective. His expressive gestures stilled, face becoming less animated.

For many years it had been the bottle of Jack or cheaper versions that kept him company after a case. Maybe he should explore a different way. 

Ziva had mentioned having to deal with the aftermath of cases in the past. He’d seen the haunted look in her eyes that she’d work hard to mask. How did she keep going on with all the baggage in her past? 

And Ducky. His old friend had more experience than any of them in horrible cases. Before he became a coroner he had done some sort of espionage work. His stories at times were macabre enough to bother him. And no matter how terrible a current case was, the ME could always dredge up worse.

His eyes softened as he watched Chin whisper in his friend’s ear causing a frown to change into a slight grin. Kono flicked her eyes at her cousin and nodded slightly in encouragement. Danny perked up and his hands began another complicated dance as he described the horrors of Navy Seals and their myopic view of taking down gun runners. The laughter welled up once more.

The Hawaiian team really was family. Maybe it was time to give up the ‘tough bastard’ role he’d taken on and let the ‘children’ grow up.

It was past time. 

Reaching over he snagged a slice of pizza decorated with pineapple and ham. He took a large bite and chewed it speculatively. 

“Oh god! You’ve contaminated another person!” Williams wailed theatrically. “It’s like flesh-eating zombies all over again!” Gibbs allowed a slow grin to cover his face.

“Don’t worry, kid,” he said as he tossed the piece aside. “Too sweet. I prefer the normal stuff.” He picked up a piece of sausage, black olive and mushroom pizza and happily bit into it. This was followed by a swig of beer.

“Perfect!” he sighed happily.

“So, when do we fly out?” Chin asked as he prepared to attack another slice of Hawaiian pizza.

“Monday morning,” Steve said. “I guess Hadley overestimated how long it would take the Haole to figure out the case.” Several sets of eyes rolled, including the Haole.

“I have to spend two whole days longer in the snow?” Chin deadpanned as he pretended to shiver.

“Hey, we could go snowboarding!” Danny’s face lit up in excitement. “I haven’t been in years!”

“Snowboarding?” Steve asked dubiously. “You know how to snowboard?”

“Sure, and skiing. But I like the snowboarding more because it’s like riding a skateboard,” Danny explained.

“I mean, YOU snowboard?” Steve repeated. “The man who refuses to surf?” Williams ducked his head.

“I am learning,” he muttered. Kono grinned as she saluted her boss with her mug.

“I’ve been giving him lessons,” she smirked. “Although now I know why he’s been such a quick study!” Steve’s look of shock was extremely amusing; even Gibbs was laughing.

“Ok, the world has officially ended,” McGarrett grumbled as he picked up his pizza for a bite.

The Hawaiian team agreed to snowboarding the following day. Noting his team seemed interested as well Gibbs suggested they extend their stay through Sunday. Then laughed again when both Tim and Chin whipped out cell phones to find places to snowboard and rent equipment.

“We have a small problem,” Tony said as he closed his phone. “No rooms available tomorrow night.” 

“See if there’s something near the airport,” Jethro suggested.

“We can have a sleep-over!” Kono jumped in.

“NO!” her team mates shouted. The female member of the team pouted.

“But we don’t have to do nails,” she offered.

“Abby would soo like you,” Tony smirked.

“Well, we do have two bedrooms and a couple couches that convert,” Danny said as he stretched his shoulders. 

“And it’s a moot point about you sleeping alone,” Steve pointed out as he stood and moved behind his partner, strong hands working stress-abused muscles. With a small groan the blond leaned forward on the table unable to retort.

“Then we’ll bunk with you tomorrow night,” Gibbs decided. “We’ll settle our travel plans in the morning.” 

Chapter 11

Sleeping started out solo. Then McGarrett tucked the upset Williams back into bed after midnight with water and a pain pill. He lie down next to him, buffering his side. Chin wandered in an hour later and simply slipped in against the other side, low voice soothing away the nightmare that had gripped Danny.

By morning Kono had climbed into the empty bed next to them. They’d finally managed to settle into a comfortable, nightmareless, sleep after three.

A knock at the door at 10 sharp the next morning did not wake anyone. With a shrug Ziva deftly picked the lock and the four NCIS members carried in their luggage. They startled when two guns were leveled at them from the bedroom door.

“Don’t you know how to knock?!” a grouchy Kono growled as she lowered her weapon. Steve lowered his piece a moment later.

“Make yourselves at home,” a sleepy voice called from the bedroom. “Tim knows his way around the kitchen!”

“Got it, Chin!” McGee responded as he headed into make coffee.

“Late night, McGarrett?” Jethro drawled taking in the dishevelled appearance of the Lt. Commander.

“Disrupted,” he grunted as he turned back into the bedroom. 

The Hawaiian team cleaned up and dressed, letting Danny sleep until they finished. Finally they two teams were assembled and finishing up breakfast. 

“So, there’s a couple rental shops near the ski slopes,” Chin began, “Echo Mountain. Reports say it’s has 8 to 10 feet of packed snow and all lifts are working.”

“And there are ski and board rentals,” Tim helpfully pointed out. “We can call ahead and reserve them now.” He typed into his lap top. 

As each person detailed shoe size and preference, ski or board, the NCIS geek entered the request. Tim, Tony and Ziva elected to use skis while Gibbs smirked and asked for a board.

“Boss? You sure about that?” Tony spluttered. “I mean, it’s a pretty new sport and you...” *smack* “Thank you, boss.” The younger man rubbed a newly hit skull

“I haven’t skied much, but I have used a skateboard, DiNozzo,” he growled. “Figured it’d be more fun using something I was used to.” He turned, casting an amused glance to Williams.

“And we have something near an expert teaching a bunch of neanderthal pineapple eaters. I nearly fit in that category.”

“Yeah, neanderthal,” Tony muttered and another slap upside the head was administered.

“Good thing, liking pineapple,” Steve dead-panned as he tucked the last of the coffee mugs into the dishwasher. They grabbed coats and headed out to the cars. McGarrett noted Tim and Chin climbing into the back of Gibb’s car. He nudged Williams towards their four wheel drive. Ziva and Tony quickly hopped in back with matching grins.

“Oooh - hooo!” DiNozzo cheered. “We’ll arrive in one piece!”

“My team isn’t in danger, are they?” Steve settled his 1000 yard stare on the other man.

“No! No they’ll be fine,” he flustered. “It’s just sometimes, the boss, you know...” *smack* “Thanks Ziva.”

“They will be fine,” the Mossad agent stated confidently. “We are on vacation. His driving is much less dangerous on vacation.”

“As I am driving,” Danny said airily, “you will arrive in one piece. The Super Seal,” he nudged his friend, “he drives like your Gibbs.” He received an ice-melting glare that was ignored.

45 safe minutes later the two cars pulled up to a ski rental shop near Echo Mountain slopes. They entered and geared up. Tim grinned. It was soooo nice to get boots and skis instead of guns and kevlar vests. He happily tossed down his credit card and waited to sign his slip. 

They loaded their equipment in the cars and soon were strapping it on after purchasing lift tickets. 

“Ok, let’s gather ‘round boys and girls,” Danny clapped his hands like some perky camp counselor. He received a glare from Steve but Kono, Chin and Jethro happily came up to him.

“We’ll go check out the runs!” DiNozzo tossed a wave as he balanced somewhat precariously on skis. The three NCIS agents slooshed over to the awaiting chair lift for an easy-level slope.

Danny began explaining balance and moving the board on the slope. By comparing it to riding a wave the Hawaiians were sure to quickly master the basics. In re-describing the moves using skateboarding terms Gibbs was knew he’d be able to handle the slopes as well.

Soon the group was on the bottom of the ‘bunny’ slope. Telling them to wait Williams grabbed the tow rope and went up to the ‘top’ of the run. He proceeded to smoothly carve a trail down the snow letting them watch. Giving a ‘thumbs up’ Steve and the rest of the boarders grabbed the tow line and headed up.

Danny grinned as he pulled out a small, pocket-sized, digital camera. He turned it on and began documenting the runs. Of the four, Kono had the best run, able to catch herself before face-planting in a drift. It was a tie between Jethro and Steve for the funniest landing. Chin looked rather dignified in the snow.

The excitement of the first run led to another, then another on the bunny slope. Williams stayed with them and then the moved on to the first beginner’s slope. This was quickly sliced up and the eager boarders moved on to another slope. 

“Hey, Boss!” DiNozzo called out. “You sure you’re ready?”

“You sure you want to ask that question?” the older man growled as he steadied himself. He watched as Williams turned and sped down the run. Without a backwards glance he launched himself off. 

The slope was slightly steeper and the wind whipped around him. He leaned into a curve delighting in the increase of speed. A small hillock presented itself and he crouched and flew off, the feeling of flight surrounding him.

Oh, yeah, this was a rush!

Landing he immediately turned into another curve. A series of flags were ahead in case he wanted to dodge around them. He didn’t and glided past. Ahead he watched Williams turn into a sliding stop. At the speed he was traveling he decided he’d start his stop now.

Danny pulled out his camera and started clicking away. The NCIS leader effectively stopped himself without much trouble and the shower of snow sent over the photographer was quickly brushed away.

“That was great!” Gibbs grinned like a little kid. He pulled off his goggles and stood by the younger man watching the next skier. DiNozzo decided he would show off and slalom around the flag poles. He managed exactly two, when he caught his tip on the third pole and lost control. With the camera chronicling his trip the two observers watched the cartwheel and subsequent plunge into a nearby drift.

“I’m ok! I meant to do that!” Tony exclaimed as he quickly picked himself up. Gibbs helped him retrieve his runaway ski. Williams remained at the bottom of the slope capturing stills of the rest of the group as they came down. DiNozzo happily razzed Ziva, who did not bother with the poles, and shut up when Tim expertly navigated through them. Chin carved a huge spray of snow over them but before they could dust off Steve basically plowed through the cluster of people unwilling (or unable) to stop. He pulled up laughing at the piles of bodies left in his wake.

Gibbs heard Williams moan from under him. He had to untangle himself from Kono before he could assess the damage.

“You ok?” he asked gruffly, holding out a hand to help the other man up.

“Yeah, yeah,” Danny groaned, favoring his back. “Jus’ remembered the bruises. Think I’ll sit out a few runs.” A very apologetic Navy Seal assisted the sore Haole to a chair near a fire pit. A large carafe of coffee appeared. Now comfortably ensconced the rest of the group moved off to enjoy the slopes.

Williams waited until they were all on the ski lift before pulling out the small envelop of pills the doctor had given him. He spilled one out on his palm and popped it into his mouth, dry swallowing it. He then moved carefully against the cushions trying to find the least painful position. 

At some point in the ensuing few hours a blanket was tucked over the still form and additional hard wood added to the fire. The Hawaiian crew checked after each run. Deeply asleep, the Haole didn’t notice the gentle concern.

About four Gibbs’ stomach had the audacity to proclaim it needed feeding. He finished another run, happily twisting through a few strategically placed poles. He left his board next to the sleeping detective and went to find food. When he returned he found sleepy blue eyes surveying the surrounding area.

“Soup?” he set a large mug of soup next to Williams as well as a plate with sandwich. The young man considered the offer before carefully pushing himself more upright. Seeing his discomfort, Jethro set down the tray and moved behind him, gently pulling Danny up.

“Thanks,” the Haole grunted, settling into place then reached for the soup.

“Guess the pineapple-eating neanderthal did a number on your ribs,” the older man commented as he picked up a steaming cup of coffee. 

“Yups,” Danny tersely replied as he sipped at the warm liquid. A contented sigh from both men frosted the surrounding air. “That hits the spot,” he continued. As they quietly ate the rest of the snow birds straggled in, heading off to get food and then settle close to the warmth of the fire. Kono was the last in and she was bubbling over with happiness.

“They light the main runs and something called the tube!” she said enthusiastically. “They stay open ‘til 9!”

“I’ve created a monster,” Danny mock-groaned.

“I don’t think I’ll make it that late, cuz,” Chin added. She pouted.

“Neither will I,” Gibbs put in.

“Getting tired, Boss?” Tony chirped then gained a slap upside the head from McGarrett. A light laughter warmed the air.

“There are two cars,” Danny pointed out. “I’m not going to make it that late. We can go back earlier and get some dinner ready.”

“I will stay late,” Ziva smiled. “I have not enjoyed myself this much in many years.”

“Count me in!” Tim grinned happily. Steve looked like he was considering his options.

“Stay,” Danny ordered. “Play. You need it!” 

“But...” McGarrett tried to insert.

“Stay!” came the growled reply. With a sheepish grin the dark-haired man agreed.

“Hey, I’m staying!” Tony smirked. “Someone with style has to make up for all you amateurs! Ziva whomped him hard on the shoulder.

“As if someone would pay you!” she snapped.

“Wait’ll you see the footage,” Williams grinned as he waved his camera. “Great style!” The good-natured heckling continued as they all stoked up their stomachs. 

“I have to ride the tube at least once,” Danny said as he stretched. 

“The tube?” Chin asked.

“It’s kind of like a skateboard ramp, but made of snow,” he explained. “You rip up the sides and do spins and stuff.” The Hawaiian contingent looked a bit skeptical, but the NCIS group grinned.

“Let me have the camera,” Jethro reached out towards Danny. “We have to document your run!” With a bright laugh the camera was passed over to him with a few directions. Then the various bits of trash was tossed and equipment picked up. The group moved off to find the tube.

“Wow! Danny’s right! It does look like a huge skateboard ramp!” Kono’s wide eyes took in the snowy tube and a boarder coming down. Half-way through he slipped and ended up riding butt down to the bottom of the ramp.

“I’m sooo there!” Williams grinned like a kid at Christmas and he headed to the lift.

“You sure he should be doing this?” Tony asked. “I mean, his ribs were hurting him...”

“Don’t think you can stop him,” Gibbs muttered as he tried out the camera snapping a couple casual pics. 

“He is stubborn,” Steve shrugged.

“Pot... Kettle,” Kono smirked and received a playful wap on the arm. They stood there waiting somewhat impatiently for their friend to come down.

Several other boarders came down. Two were successful but the others slipped up. Finally they spotted Danny’s figure at the top, a distinctive hat and scarf had set him off. He took a minute to scope out the run then leaned forward. 

The speed was awesome, racing up the side of the tube, then the split seconds frozen above the rail before descending down and up the other side. He kept the run simple getting his ‘sea legs’ back. As he reached the bottom he was greeted by his friends.

“That was just wicked, man!” Tony said.

“You are so going surfing with us when we get back home!” Steve declared as he gently patted his 2IC on the back.

“Hey, there aren’t any sharks here!” Danny warmed up. “And waves move! Don’t even get me started on jellyfish and coral!” His mini-tirade caused another round of laughter.

“Just sayin’ this is waayyy better! Safer, too!” he proclaimed as he headed back to the lift. Steve and Kono were right on his six.

“I’m sitting this one out,” Chin decided. “Even when I surf I don’t do the crazy stuff those two lolos do.”

“I’m gonna pass as well,” Jethro agreed. “And not because I’m old, Dinozzo!”

“I didn’t say anything!” he protested.

“You were thinking it, Tony,” Tim said patiently. “We could all hear your brain shout.”

“More like brain fart,” Ziva muttered.

“HEY!” another protest from the maligned NCIS agent.

Danny’s next run had more flourishes as he launched himself higher, twisting and turning and adding even more airtime. Gibbs chronicled the run with the built-in video feature. He continued as first Kono came down (with little fanfare) and then Steve. McGarrett thought he could perform Williams’ tricks easily and ended up tripping at the top and finishing his run on his belly.

“Oh, I can hardly wait to get back and transfer this onto the laptop!” Chin smiled. Danny was holding his stomach as he tried to not laugh. His ribs were aching but it was so funny.

“Let me get one more run on the middle slope,” Gibbs said as he handed over the camera. “Chin?”

“Yeah, ok, I’m for that!” he agreed amiably. They ambled off towards the lifts followed by Tim and Ziva. That left Danny and Tony to help shake snow off the Lt. Cmdr.

 

Chapter 12

Danny listened to the deep breathing of his team mates. Steve was once more beside him on the bed; Chin and Kono across from him on the other bed. The nightmare had hit him hard, a kaleidoscope of dying and dead children. 

Willing his heart to slow down he took careful breaths. Normally all three room mates would have been awake, all light sleepers. But the previous day’s excursion had worn them out and they slept as hard as they played. Not wanting to wake them Williams slid carefully out of bed and made his way out to the kitchen.

A loud, long snore caused him to smirk. Seems besides being suave and sophisticated Tony Dinozzo could saw the wood like his old college room mate. He glanced at the moonlit face of the NCIS team leader and wondered how he could sleep through it. With a slight shrug he moved into the kitchen silently searching the fridge for a snack.

His search paid off with a slice of peach pie (really, frozen pies were wonderful things) and a large mug of warmed milk. With a sigh he settled at the table and looked out over the moonlight painted snow and trees. 

On silent wings an owl soared past. He wondered if it was heading back to its nest. The snoring that had provided a comfortable background noise suddenly stuttered and he listened to the man shift grumpily.

“Mo-om! I was just...” the voice drifted back to sleep (Danny doubted he’d even come close to the surface) and the more definite sound of feet on the floor heading to the bathroom. He stretched his shoulders and neck before lifting another bite to his mouth.

A soft swish of flushing and distinct sound of water in the sink. The bathroom door barely disturbed the newly achieved silence. A body moved into the kitchen and he heard the tinkle of condiment bottles as the fridge door opened. Choosing not to see who was up he sipped at his mug.

A few moments later another mug and plate of pie settled on the table. Gibbs’ silver hair nearly white in the moon’s glow. A pan of warmed milk poured and the rest slipped into William’s own.

They sat in silence, comfortable, as the snowy scene continued to dominate their attention. A deer moved towards a pile of hay that was piled in a discreet feeder. The lodge found it best to leave out a little food hence a variety of animals stayed content and provided ‘ambiance’. 

After a few pulls at the fodder the deer looked up, completely on alert, then darted off quickly.

“Pretty thing,” Danny finally broke the quiet. Jethro preferred nodding slightly in reply. Another bite and sip.

“Surprised you’re awake,” he observed. His companion shrugged.

“After all the exercise you got,” Gibbs continued, “plus the meds I figured you’d be the last one up.” Another shrug.

“How long does it take to get back to sleeping the night?” he tried another tack. On his part Danny considered the question before once more shrugging. So Jethro tried silence.

“The first week is always the worst,” the withdrawn man quietly said. “Then if I get busy at work the nightmares taper off.”

“Change once you went to 5-0?” Gibbs asked, curious.

“Still have the nightmares,” Williams admitted, “but the team, Steve especially, they stay close. Never had anyone remotely interested in helping me through ‘em before, including the ex-wife.”

“I haven’t had anyone since my wife,” Gibbs took a forkful of pie. “Many years ago.” He didn’t count the three ensuing mistakes. 

“Damn nuisance,” Danny commiserated. “Not sure how it feels to have back-up after all this time. But... not so lonely. I certainly don’t drink as much.”

“There is that,” Gibbs agreed. “I keep building boats in my basement and drinking too much whisky.” He’d never said that aloud before.

“Yeah, bet you do it all by hand,” Danny sipped at his mug. “I cook. Especially food my Grandmother made. And drink.”

“Ok, we both have healthy outlets and unhealthy outlets,” the older man tapped his mug against the younger’s.

“You got a good team,” Williams commented. “A big dysfunctional family like my own team. They’d be willing to help. Not necessarily in ways you’ll be comfortable at first. I mean, I don’t generally sleep with men, but let them in.”

“You heard him snore,” Gibbs chuckled in his mug.

“Tim? Ziva?” he teased.

“Ziva,” Gibbs smiled at the memory of a past stake-out. Dinozzo whined for days at how loud the woman snored.

“You don’t have to do the sleep in bed thing,” Danno shrugged. “Go out after a case, have a bar-b-que on an off day. Go bowling.” He considered that a moment.

“What?” he was prompted.

“None of you have an issue with losing, do you?” he asked innocently pretty much knowing the answer.

“Naw,” Gibbs smirked. “I never lose.”

“Danno?” a sleepy Steve stumbled into the kitchen. Honestly, he looked like a little boy searching for his teddy with his hair sticking out all over.

“Hey Super Seal, just having a midnight snack with Jethro and another round of meds,” he said. “You go lie down, I’ll be right there.”

“Sure?” came the extremely drowsy reply.

“Sure, big guy, go sleep,” he said gently. They watched as the Navy Seal stumbled back into bed. Danny turned back to Gibbs.

“Of course, you get to see them in ways you’d never believe,” he commented. 

“Got that right,” he smirked.

“I wish I’d taken a picture,” Danny sighed. “No one will believe me.”

“I’ll know,” Jethro smiled. The two men rinsed their plates and cups leaving them for the morning. Danny popped one more pill then went back into the bedroom as the older man went back to his pull out. He glanced over at Tony. Yeah, the Hawaiian cop was right, not gonna sleep with either of the heavy snorers! But the idea of cook-outs...

 

With a 1pm flight the NCIS team were given first access to bathroom while the Hawaiian team prepped breakfast. The heavenly scent of cinnamon was in the air and the east coast contingent happily dug into a french toast casserole. 

“This one of Grandma’s?” Jethro asked the blond-haired man.

“Yep, comfort food all the way,” Danny agreed readily.

“We’ve threatened to make him our personal chief, but he refuses,” Chin pointed out over his own plate of custardy goodness.

“Can I have the recipe?” Tim asked eagerly. He loved cooking. Gibbs looked at his youngest agent and remembered he always had something interesting to eat for days they didn’t go out for lunch.

“Sure, I’ll email it to you when we get home tomorrow night,” Williams agreed.

“He said ‘get home’!” Steve crowed. “I told you he loved Hawaii!” He received a withering look.

“Your move to the islands wasn’t your first choice,” Tony asked.

“Ex wife, sucky situation,” Danny turned to Gibbs. “How the hell do you survive three?”

“With lots of Jack Daniels,” he snorted, “and target practice.”

“Ah,” Williams nodded sagely. “I definitely improve with the right picture...” The two men shared a laugh.

By 10:30 the NCIS team left with promises of emails and shared digital images. Chin and Tim were already working on a movie of the skiing adventure which was worrying both Tony and Steve.

When the door closed the foursome went into the kitchen and settled down to fresh coffee. They sat enjoying the quiet of the morning. 

“So, anything we should do today?” Steve asked no one in particular. The others considered.

“Hey, we’ve never built a snowman!” Kono said exuberantly. Her cousin smile indulgently, she was so young.

“And you promised me snow cream Danno!” Steve added with a pout.

Ok, the two of them were so young, but not necessarily in years.

“Yeah, I did,” Williams said. “There’s fresh snow out there so we’ll try that later on. I think we have everything we’ll need.”

“We can build a snow man!” Kono clapped happily. Danny looked sideways at Chin, mischief in his eyes.

“Why don’t we have a contest, see who can build the best snowman?” he suggested knowing full well about the competitiveness of this team. Chin had a hard time not snickering. Steve perked up immediately.

“Great! Two teams!” he said.

“I dibs Danny!” Kono said quickly and suffered a glare from her boss.

“I have no experience in snow,” she did her best to look weak and inoffensive. “You have and Chin’s done clay work. You two have more experience!” Danny said nothing happy to watch it play out.

“And Danny’s injured so he can’t do and heavy lifting!” was her decisive finish. McGarrett considered this a moment.

“Ok, but we’re looking for traditional snow men, no unearthly creatures,” he stipulated.

“No tanks, guns or torpedoes,” Danny threw in for fun.

“Ah, bro! That’s so unfair,” Chin pretended to scowl.

“What’s the prize?” Steve asked, quickly seconded by Kono. Danny thought a moment and then went into the bedroom carrying out a bag. He reached in and pulled out a stuffed moose wearing an Alpine Lodge t-shirt.

“Got it for Grace, but I can get something else,” he said putting the creature on the table. Steve and Kono cast appraising eyes over the offering and agreed with a handshake.

“Judges?” Chin asked.

“We’ll grab the host,” said Steve.

“No fair intimidating him!” Danny cautioned. Steve gave him the most ‘who me’ innocent look he could muster.

“Ok, time limit?” Chin didn’t want to freeze.

“Three hours should be enough for a decent snowman,” Danny decided. “Probably less.”

“We start in ten, let’s get moving ladies!” Steve jumped up and charged for the bedroom followed closely by Chin.

“Aren’t you going, too?” Kono asked.

“Naw, let ‘em think a head start will help,” he smirked.

The two-man team was out in the snow in record time. Kono was dragging Danny by his coat trying to hurry him on. They endured cat calls from the already mounding team.

“Ok, rookie, listen up,” Williams took control back from the petite detective. He explained snow piling and packing. How many parts to the body. The need for the perfect accessories. She supplied all the energetic enthusiasm and happily began the cold work of assembling the snowman.

During the next two and a half hours three anxious Hawaiians stole covert glances at the opponent’s work. After years and years of snow activities Danny felt like an indulgent elder uncle watching his nieces and nephews. 

With sure gloves a three-level snow man appeared on Kono and Danny’s side. An equally good snow man was being created on Chin and Steve’s team. Fallen tree branches were located for the perfect arms and facial features created with rocks. 

As they continued they didn’t notice the whine of snow mobiles in the distance. The harsh roar grew louder and the Host, who’d been watching with amusement at the four adults and taking pictures for them, started to panic.

“Mr. Williams! Watch out!” he called gaining all four’s attention. Snow mobilers whipped onto the lodge’s ground spinning and kicking up snow. The wild shouts and hoots of the three riders cause all of them to stand up. Suddenly, one of the vehicles plowed through Kono’s snowman completely destroying it as the laughter rained down.

When the riders had finished that run they had the audacity to turn around and head for the second snow man. 

Very stupid move.

The lead rider slowed slightly to take aim at the snow man. Steve knocked him off his machine effortlessly and shoved his face into the snow. Before the other two riders could regroup and escape Kono and Chin sprang into action and dismounted them as well. Which left Danny to calmly walk around shutting off all the motors.

“Oh my heavens! I am soo sorry,” the host was blithering. “We’ve had problems with them before but we’ve never been able to catch them!”

“The masks didn’t help either,” Danny said as he approached the three completely subdued vandals. “You want to call the cops?”

“Yes, of course! We’ve wanted to get them for a long time!” he scuttled into the lodge and called the police. 

“He ruined my snowman!” Kono wailed. “We were gonna win!”

“You dudes are in for some major trouble,” Danny commented surveying their prisoners. “Let’s go inside, my feet are cold.”

The three people were de-masked. 

“Jimmy?” the host asked the twenty-something year old. “You work here!” The other two were about the same age. “They’ve been coming through every couple of weeks, just ripping up the snow and feeders. They never hurt anyone but they certainly have caused a lot of damage!”

The host was so thankful, shaking everyone’s hands. Danny grinned and looked at his friends.

“So, anyone else glad we don’t have to write these reports?” he asked.

“Terrorist snow mobilers attack defenseless snow man,” Chin deadpanned.

“Vandal hamstrung by irate snow man builder,” Kono added, glaring at the three men who squirmed in their seats.

“I don’t think I want this to get back to the Governor,” Steve said. “I don’t know how we’d live it down.” His team mates agreed somberly.

The police came in and hauled the threesome off on misdemeanor charges, their snowmobiles to be hauled off to lockup.

“Only could happen to us,” Chin sighed as they trudged back to their cabin. One of the police officers handed him the camera after they’d downloaded pertinent pictures (the host had shot much of the destruction).

“Yeah, although not as dramatic as the shark tank,” Danny put in cheerfully. “Or hanging a perp over the side of a building.”

“You can’t imagine how glad I am those weren’t documented!” the older detective exclaimed. They shared a laugh as they stomped snow off their boots before going inside.

Of course the following day as they debarked in the Honolulu Airport in the bright, warm Hawaiian sunshine showed just how wrong they’d been. If there was one news reporter, there were fifty (Did they even have that many local media outlets??) and the Governor herself standing in the waiting area with leis adorning her arm. Snatching up a newspaper they quickly scanned the front page.

The newspaper headlines blared out:  
“HAWAII’S OWN ASSISTS PRESIDENTIAL TASK FORCE IN CATCHING SERIAL KILLER”

A smaller caption under a picture from the snow mobile incident heralded:

“No time for play!”

 

“Shoot me now,” Chin groaned.

 

Fin


End file.
